:BF\5  7 to 
\JL>'72, 


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in  2018  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/salemwitchcraftw02upha_0 


SALEM  WITCHCR 


WITH 


Account  of  Salem  Ftllage, 


AND 


A  HISTORY  OF  OPINIONS  ON  WITCHCRAFT  AND 
KINDRED  SUBJECTS. 


BY 


CHARLES  W. 


UPHAM. 


VOLUME  II. 


BOSTON : 

W  I  G  G  I  N  AND  L  U  N  T. 

1867. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1867,  by 

CHARLES  AV.  UPHAM, 

In  the  Clerk’s  office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE: 


PRESS  OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 


PART  THIRD. 


. 


. 


PART  THIR  1) 


♦ 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 

VE  left  Mr.  Parris  in  the  early  part  of  November, 


1691 ,  at  the  crisis  of  his  controversy  with  the 


inhabitants  of  Salem  Village,  under  circumstances 
which  seemed  to  indicate  that  its  termination  was 
near  at  hand.  The  opposition  to  him  had  assumed  a 
form  which  made  it  quite  probable  that  it  would  succeed 
in  dislodging  him  from  his  position.  But  the  end  was 
not  yet.  Events  were  ripening  that  were  to  give  him  a 
new  and  fearful  strength,  and  open  a  scene  in  which  he 
was  to  act  a  part  destined  to  attract  the  notice  of  the 
world,  and  become  a  permanent  portion  of  human  his¬ 
tory.  The  doctrines  of  demonology  had  produced  their 
full  effect  upon  the  minds  of  men,  and  every  thing  was 
ready  for  a  final  display  of  their  power.  The  story  of 
the  Goodwin  children,  as  told  by  Cotton  Mather,  was 
known  and  read  in  all  the  dwellings  of  the  land,  and 
filled  the  imaginations  of  a  credulous  age.  Deputy- 
governor  Danforth  had  begun  the  work  of  arrests  ;  and 


l 


VOL.  II. 


I 


2  WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 

persons  charged  with  witchcraft,  belonging  to  neigh¬ 
boring  towns,  were  already  in  prison. 

Mr.  Parris  appears  to  have  had  in  his  family  several 
slaves,  probably  brought  by  him  from  the  West  Indies. 
One  of  them,  whom  he  calls,  in  his  church-record  book, 
“  my  negro  lad,”  had  died,  a  year  or  two  before,  at  the 
age  of  nineteen.  Two  of  them  were  man  and  wife. 
The  former  was  always  known  by  the  name  of  “  John 
Indian  ;  ”  the  latter  was  called  “  Tituba.”  These  two 
persons  may  have  originated  the  “  Salem  witchcraft.” 
They  are  spoken  of  as  having  come  from  New  Spain,  as 
it  was  then  called, —  that  is,  the  Spanish  West  Indies, 
and  the  adjacent  mainlands  of  Central  and  South  Amer¬ 
ica, —  and,  in  all  probability,  contributed,  from  the 
wild  and  strange  superstitions  prevalent  among  their 
native  tribes,  materials  which,  added  to  the  commonly 
received  notions  on  such  subjects,  heightened  the  in¬ 
fatuation  of  the  times,  and  inflamed  still  more  the 
imaginations  of  the  credulous.  Persons  conversant 
with  the  Indians  of  Mexico,  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
Isthmus,  discern  many  similarities  in  their  systems  of 
demonology  with  ideas  and  practices  developed  here. 

Mr.  Parris’s  former  residence  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Spanish  Main,  and  the  prominent  part  taken  by 
his  Indian  slaves  in  originating  the  proceedings  at  the 
village,  may  account  for  some  of  the  features  of  the 
transaction. 

During  the  winter  of  1691  and  1692,  a  circle  of 
young  girls  had  been  formed,  who  were  in  the  habit 
of  meeting  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house  for  the  purpose  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


3 


practising  palmistry,  and  other  arts  of  fortune-telling, 
and  of  becoming  experts  in  the  wonders  of  necromancy, 
magic,  and  spiritualism.  It  consisted,  besides  the 
Indian  servants,  mainly  of  the  following  persons :  — 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Mr.  Parris,  was  nine  years  of 
age.  She  seems  to  have  performed  a  leading  part  in 
the  first  stages  of  the  affair,  and  must  have  been  a  child 
of  remarkable  precocity.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  that 
her  father  early  removed  her  from  the  scene.  She 
was  sent  to  the  town,  where  she  remained  in  the  family 
of  Stephen  Sewall,  until  the  proceedings  at  the  village 
were  brought  to  a  close.  Abigail  Williams,  a  niece  of 
Mr.  Parris,  and  a  member  of  his  household,  was 
eleven  years  of  age.  She  acted  conspicuously  in 
the  witchcraft  prosecutions  from  beginning  to  end. 
Ann  Putnam,  daughter  of  Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam, 
the  parish  clerk  or  recorder,  was  twelve  years  of 
age.  The  character  and  social  position  of  her  parents 
gave  her  a  prominence  which  an  extraordinary  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  imaginative  faculty,  and  of  mental  powers 
generally,  enabled  her  to  hold  throughout.  This  young 
girl  is  perhaps  entitled  to  be  regarded  as,  in  many 
respects,  the  leading  agent  in  all  the  mischief  that  fol¬ 
lowed.  Mary  Walcot  was  seventeen  years  of  age.  Her 
father  was  Jonathan  Walcot  (vol.  i.  p.  225).  His  first 
wife,  Mary  Sibley,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1664, 
had  died  in  1683.  She  was  the  mother  of  Mary.  It  is 
a  singular  fact,  and  indicates  the  estimation  in  which 
Captain  Walcot  was  held,  that,  although  not  a  church- 
member,  he  filled  the  office  of  deacon  of  the  parish 


4 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


for  several  years  before  the  formation  of  the  church. 
Mercy  Lewis  was  also  seventeen  years  of  age.  When 
quite  young,  she  was,  for  a  time,  in  the  family  of  the 
Rev.  George  Burroughs  :  and,  in  1692,  was  living  as  a 
servant  in  the  family  of  Thomas  Putnam ;  although, 
occasionally,  she  seems  to  have  lived,  in  the  same  ca¬ 
pacity,  with  that  of  John  Putnam,  Jr.,  the  constable  of 
the  village.  He  was  a  son  of  Nathaniel,  and  resided 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Thomas  and  Deacon  Edward 
Putnam.  Mercy  Lewis  performed  a  leading  part  in 
the  proceedings,  had  great  energy  of  purpose  and 
capacity  of  management,  and  became  responsible  for 
much  of  the  crime  and  horror  connected  with  them. 
Elizabeth  Hubbard,  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  also 
occupies  a  bad  eminence  in  the  scene,  was  a  niece 
of  Mrs.  Dr.  Griggs,  and  lived  in  her  family.  Eliza¬ 
beth  Booth  and  Susannah  Sheldon,  each  eighteen 
years  of  age,  belonged  to  families  in  the  neighborhood. 
Mary  Warren,  twenty  years  of  age,  was  a  servant  in  the 
family  of  John  Procter ;  and  Sarah  Churchill,  of  the 
same  age,  was  a  servant  in  that  of  George  Jacobs,  Sr. 
These  two  last  were  actuated,  it  is  too  apparent,  by 
malicious  feelings  towards  the  families  in  which  they 
resided,  and  contributed  largely  to  the  horrible  tragedy. 
The  facts  to  be  exhibited  will  enable  every  one  who 
carefully  considers  them,  to  form  an  estimate,  for  him¬ 
self,  of  the  respective  character  and  conduct  of  these 
young  persons.  It  is  almost  beyond  belief  that  they 
were  wholly  actuated  by  deliberate  and  cold-blooded 
malignity.  Their  crime  would,  in  that  view,  have  been 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


5 


without  a  parallel  in  monstrosity  of  wickedness,  and 
beyond  what  can  be  imagined  of  the  guiltiest  and  most 
depraved  natures.  For  myself,  I  am  unable  to  deter¬ 
mine  how  much  may  be  attributed  to  credulity, 
hallucination,  and  the  delirium  of  excitement,  or  to 
deliberate  malice  and  falsehood.  There  is  too  much 
evidence  of  guile  and  conspiracy  to  attribute  all  their 
actions  and  declarations  to  delusion ;  and  their  con¬ 
duct  throughout  was  stamped  with  a  bold  assurance 
and  audacious  bearing.  With  one  or  two  slight  and 
momentary  exceptions,  there  was  a  total  absence  of 
compunction  or  commiseration,  and  a  reckless  disre¬ 
gard  of  the  agonies  and  destruction  they  were  scatter¬ 
ing  around  them.  They  present  a  subject  that  justly 
claims,  and  will  for  ever  task,  the  examination  of  those 
who  are  most  competent  to  fathom  the  mysteries  of 
the  human  soul,  sound  its  depths,  and  measure  the 
extent  to  which  it  is  liable  to  become  wicked  and  devil¬ 
ish.  It  will  be  seen  that  other  persons  were  drawn 
to  act  with  these  “  afflicted  children,”  as  they  were 
called,  some  from  contagious  delusion,  and  some,  as 
was  quite  well  proved,  from  a  false,  mischievous,  and 
malignant  spirit. 

Besides  the  above-mentioned  persons,  there  were 
three  married  women,  rather  under  middle  life,  who 
acted  with  the  afflicted  children,  —  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam, 
the  mother  of  the  child  of  that  name  ;  Mrs.  Pope  ;  and 
a  woman,  named  Bibber,  who  appears  to  have  lived  at 
Wenham.  Another  married  woman,  —  spoken  of  as 
“  ancient,”  —  named  Goodell,  had  also  been  in  the 


6 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


habit  of  attending  their  meetings ;  but  she  is  not 
named  in  any  of  the  documents  on  file,  and  was 
probably  withdrawn,  at  an  early  period,  from  partici¬ 
pating  in  the  transaction. 

In  the  course  of  the  winter,  they  became  quite 
skilful  and  expert  in  the  arts  the}r  were  learning,  and 
gradually  began  to  display  their  attainments  to  the 
admiration  and  amazement  of  beholders.  At  first, 
they  made  no  charges  against  any  person,  but  con¬ 
fined  themselves  to  strange  actions,  exclamations,  and 
contortions.  They  would  creep  into  holes,  and  under 
benches  and  chairs,  put  themselves  into  odd  and 
unnatural  postures,  make  wild  and  antic  gestures, 
and  utter  incoherent  and  unintelligible  sounds.  They 
would  be  seized  with  spasms,  drop  insensible  to  the 
floor,  or  writhe  in  agony,  suffering  dreadful  tortures, 
and  uttering  loud  and  piercing  outcries.  The  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  families  in  which  they  held  their  meetings 
was  called  to  their  extraordinary  condition  and  pro¬ 
ceedings  ;  and  the  whole  neighborhood  and  surround¬ 
ing  country  soon  were  filled  with  the  story  of  the 
strange  and  unaccountable  sufferings  of  the  “  afflicted 
girls.”  No  explanation  could  be  given,  and  their 
condition  became  worse  and  worse.  The  physician  of 
the  village,  Dr.  Griggs,  was  called  in,  a  consultation 
had,  and  the  opinion  finally  and  gravely  given,  that 
the  afflicted  children  were  bewitched.  It  was  quite 
common  in  those  days  for  the  faculty  to  dispose  of 
difficult  cases  by  this  resort.  When  their  remedies 
were  baffled,  and  their  skill  at  fault,  the  patient  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


7 


said  to  be  “  under  an  evil  hand.”  In  all  cases,  the 
sage  conclusion  was  received  by  nurses,  and  elderly 
women  called  in  on  such  occasions,  if  the  symptoms 
were  out  of  the  common  course,  or  did  not  yield  to  the 
prescriptions  these  persons  were  in  the  habit  of  apply¬ 
ing.  Very  soon,  tbo  whole  comm  nity  became  excited 
and  alarmed  to  the  highest  degree.  All  other  topics 
were  forgotten.  The  only  thing  spoken  or  thought  of 
was  the  terrible  condition  of  the  afflicted  children  in 
Mr.  Parris’s  house,  or  wherever,  from  time  to  time,  the 
girls  assembled.  They  were  the  objects  of  universal 
compassion  and  wonder.  The  people  flocked  from  all 
quarters  to  witness  their  sufferings,  and  gaze  with 
awe  upon  their  convulsions.  Becoming  objects  of 
such  notice,  they  were  stimulated  to  vary  and  expand 
the  manifestations  of  the  extraordinary  influence  that 
was  upon  them.  They  extended  their  operations  be¬ 
yond  the  houses  of  Mr.  Parris,  and  the  families  to  which 
they  belonged,  to  public  places  ;  and  their  fits,  exclama¬ 
tions,  and  outcries  disturbed  the  exercises  of  prayer 
meetings,  and  the  ordinary  services  of  the  congrega¬ 
tion.  On  one  occasion,  on  the  Lord’s  Bay,  March  20th, 
when  the  singing  of  the  psalm  previous  to  the  sermon 
was  concluded,  before  the  person  preaching  —  Mr. 
Lawson  —  could  come  forward,  Abigail  Williams  cried 
out,  “  Now  stand  up,  and  name  your  text.”  When  he 
had  read  it,  in  a  loud  and  insolent  voice  she  ex¬ 
claimed,  “  It’s  a  long  text.”  In  the  midst  of  the  dis¬ 
course,  Mrs.  Pope  broke  in,  “  Now,  there  is  enough  of 
that.”  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  while  re- 


8 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ferring  to  the  doctrine  he  had  been  expounding  in  the 
preceding  service,  Abigail  Williams  rudely  ejaculated, 
“  I  know  no  doctrine  you  had.  If  you  did  name 
one,  I  have  forgot  it.”  An  aged  member  of  the 
church  was  present,  against  whom  a  warrant  on  the 
charge  of  witchcraft  had  been  procured  the  day  before. 
Being  apprised  of  the  proceeding,  Abigail  Williams 
spoke  aloud,  during  the  service,  calling  by  name  the 
person  about  to  be  apprehended,  “Look  where  she 
sit^  upon  the  beam,  sucking  her  yellow-bird  betwixt 
her  fingers.”  Ann  Putnam,  joining  in,  exclaimed, 
“  There  is  a  yellow-bird  sitting  on  the  minister’s  hat, 
as  it  hangs  on  the  pin  in  the  pulpit.”  Mr.  Lawson 
remarks,  with  much  simplicity,  that  these  things,  oc¬ 
curring  “  in  the  time  of  public  worship,  did  something 
interrupt  me  in  my  first  prayer,  being  so  unusual.” 
But  he  braced  himself  up  to  the  emergency,  and  went 
on  with  the  service.  There  is  no  intimation  that  Mr. 
Parris  rebuked  his  niece  for  her  disorderly  behavior. 
As  at  several  other  times,  the  people  sitting  near  Ann 
Putnam  had  to  lay  hold  of  her  to  prevent  her  proceed¬ 
ing  to  greater  extremities,  and  wholly  breaking  up  the 
meeting.  The  girls  were  supposed  to  be  under  an 
irresistible  and  supernatural  impulse ;  and,  instead  of 
being  severely  punished,  were  looked  upon  with  min¬ 
gled  pity,  terror,  and  awe,  and  made  objects  of  the 
greatest  attention.  Of  course,  where  members  of 
the  minister’s  family  were  countenanced  in  such  pro¬ 
ceedings,  during  the  exercises  of  public  worship,  on 
the  Lord’s  Day,  in  the  meeting-house,  it  was  not 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


9 


strange  that  people  in  general  yielded  to  the  excite¬ 
ment.  But  all  did  not.  Several  members  of  the 
family  of  Francis  Nurse,  Peter  Cloyse  and  wife,  and 
Joseph  Putnam,  expressed  their  disapprobation  of  such 
doings  being  allowed,  and  absented  themselves  from 
meeting.  Perhaps  others  took  the  same  course ;  but 
whoever  did  were  marked,  as  the  secpiel  will  show. 

In  the  mean  while  the  excitement  was  worked  up 
to  the  highest  pitch.  The  families  to  which  several 
of  the  “  afflicted  children  ”  belonged  were  led  to 
apply  themselves  to  fasting  and  prayer,  on  which  occa¬ 
sions  the  neighbors,  under  the  guidance  of  the  minis¬ 
ter,  would  assemble,  and  unite  in  invocations  to  the 
Divine  Being  to  interpose  and  deliver  them  from  the 
snares  and  dominion  of  Satan.  The  “  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren  ”  who  might  be  present  would  not,  as  a  general 
thing,  interrupt  the  prayers  while  in  progress,  but 
would  break  out  with  their  wild  outcries  and  con¬ 
vulsive  spasms  in  the  intervals  of  the  service.  In 
due  time,  Mr.  Parris  sent  for  the  neighboring  minis¬ 
ters  to  assemble  at  his  house,  and  unite  with  him  in 
devoting  a  dav  to  solemn  religious  services  and  earnest 
supplications  to  the  throne  of  Mercy  for  rescue  from 
the  power  of  the  great  enemy  of  souls.  The  minis¬ 
ters  spent  the  day  in  Mr.  Parris’s  house,  and  the  chil¬ 
dren  performed  their  feats  before  their  eyes.  The 
reverend  gentlemen  were  astounded  at  what  they 
saw,  fully  corroborated  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Griggs,  and 
formally  declared  their  belief  that  the  Evil  One  had 
commenced  his  operations  with  a  bolder  front  and 


10 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


on  a  broader  scale  than  ever  before  in  this  or  any  other 
country. 

This  judgment  of  the  ministers  was  quickly  made 
known  everywhere  ;  and,  if  doubt  remained  in  any 
mind,  it  was  suppressed  by  tbe  irresistible  power  of  an 
overwhelming  public  conviction.  Individuals  were 
lost  in  the  universal  fanaticism.  Society  was  dissolved 
into  a  wild  and  excited  crowd.  Men  and  women  left 
their  fields,  their  houses,  their  labors  and  employ¬ 
ments,  to  witness  the  awful  unveiling  of  the  demoniac 
power,  and  to  behold  the  workings  of  Satan  himself 
upon  the  victims  of  his  wrath. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  it  was  then  an  estab¬ 
lished  doctrine  in  theology,  philosophy,  and  law,  that  the 
Devil  could  not  operate  upon  mortals,  or  mortal  affairs, 
except  through  the  intermediate  instrumentality  of 
human  beings  in  confederacy  with  him,  that  is,  witches 
or  wizards.  The  question,  of  course,  in  all  minds 
and  on  all  tongues,  was,  u  Who  are  the  agents  of  the 
Devil  in  afflicting  these  girls  ?  There  must  be  some 
among  us  thus  acting,  and  who  are  they  ?  ”  For  some 
time  the  girls  held  back  from  mentioning  names ;  or, 
if  they  did,  it  was  prevented  from  being  divulged  to 
the  public.  In  the  mean  time,  the  excitement  spread 
and  deepened.  At  length  the  people  had  become  so 
thoroughly  prepared  for  the  work,  that  it  was  con¬ 
cluded  to  begin  operations  in  earnest.  The  continued 
pressure  upon  the  “  afflicted  children,”  the  earnest 
and  importunate  inquiry,  on  all  sides,  “  Who  is  it  that 
bewitches  you  ?  ”  opened  their  lips  in  response,  and 


TVITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


11 


they  began  to  select  and  bring  forward  their  victims. 
One  after  another,  they  cried  out  “  Good,”  “  Osburn,” 
“  Titnba.”  On  the  29th  of  February,  1G92,  warrants 
were  duly  issued  against  those  persons.  It  is  observ¬ 
able,  that  the  complainants  who  procured  the  warrants 
in  these  cases  were  Joseph  Hutchinson,  Edward  Put¬ 
nam,  Thomas  Putnam,  and  Thomas  Preston.  This 
fact  shows  how  nearly  unanimous,  at  this  time,  was  the 
conviction  that  the  sufferings  of  the  girls  were  the 
result  of  witchcraft.  Joseph  Hutchinson  was  a  firm- 
minded  man,  of  strong  common  sense,  and  from  his 
general  character  and  ways  of  thinking  and  acting, 
one  of  the  last  persons  liable  to  be  carried  away  by  a 
popular  enthusiasm,  and  was  found  among  the  earliest 
rescued  from  it.  Thomas  Preston  was  a  son-in-law  of 
Francis  Nurse. 

As  all  was  ripe  for  the  development  of  the  plot, 
extraordinary  means  were  taken  to  give  publicity, 
notoriety,  and  effect  to  the  first  examinations.  On  the 
1st  of  March  the  two  leading  magistrates  of  the 
neighborhood,  men  of  great  note  and  influence,  whose 
fathers  had  been  among  the  chief  founders  of  the 
settlement,  and  who  were  Assistants,  —  that  is,  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  highest  legislative  and  judicial  body  in  the 
colony,  combining  with  the  functions  of  a  senate  those 
of  a  court  of  last  resort  with  most  comprehensive 
jurisdiction,  —  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan  Corwin, 
entered  the  village,  in  imposing  array,  escorted  by 
the  marshal,  constables,  and  their  aids,  with  all  the 
trappings  of  their  offices ;  reined  up  at  Nathaniel  In- 


12 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


gersoll’s  corner,  and  dismounted  at  his  door.  The 
whole  population  of  the  neighborhood,  apprised  of  the 
occasion,  was  gathered  on  the  lawn,  or  came  flocking 
along  the  roads.  The  crowd  was  so  great  that  it  was 
necessary  to  adjourn  to  the  meeting-house,  which  was 
filled  at  once  by  a  multitude  excited  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  indignation  and  abhorrence  towards  the  prisoners, 
and  of  curiosity  to  witness  the  novel  and  imposing 
spectacle  and  proceedings.  The  magistrates  took  seats 
in  front  of  the  pulpit,  facing  the  assembly ;  a  long 
table  or  raised  platform  being  placed  before  them ; 
and  it  was  announced,  that  they  were  ready  to  enter 
upon  the  examination.  On  bringing  in  and  delivering 
over  the  accused  parties,  the  officers  who  had  executed 
the  warrants  stated  that  they  “  had  made  diligent 
search  for  images  and  such  like,  but  could  find  none.” 
After  prayer,  Constable  George  Locker  produced  the 
body  of  Sarah  Good ;  and  Constable  Joseph  Herrick, 
the  bodies  of  Sarah  Osburn,  and  Tituba  Mr.  Parris’s 
Indian  woman.  The  evidence  seems  to  indicate,  that, 
on  these  occasions,  the  prisoners  were  placed  on  the 
platform,  to  keep  them  from  the  contact  of  the  general 
crowd,  and  that  all  might  see  them. 

Sarah  Good  was  first  examined,  the  other  two  being 
removed  from  the  house  for  the  time.  In  complaining 
of  her,  and  bringing  her  forward  first,  the  prosecu¬ 
tors  showed  that  they  were  well  advised.  There  was 
a  general  readiness  to  receive  the  charge  against  her, 
as  she  was  evidently  the  object  of  much  prejudice  in 
the  neighborhood.  Her  husband,  who  was  a  weak, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


lo 

ignorant,  and  dependent  person,  had  become  alienated 
from  her.  The  family  were  very  poor ;  and  she  and 
her  children  had  sometimes  been  without  a  house  to 
shelter  them,  and  left  to  wander  from  door  to  door  for 
relief.  Whether  justly  or  not,  she  appears  to  have 
been  subject  to  general  obloquy.  Probably  there  was 
no  one  in  the  country  around,  against  whom  popular 
suspicion  could  have  been  more  readily  directed,  or  in 
whose  favor  and  defence  less  interest  could  be  awak¬ 
ened.  She  was  a  forlorn,  friendless,  and  forsaken 
creature,  broken  down  by  wretchedness  of  condition 
and  ill-repute.  The  following  are  the  minutes  of  her 
examination,  as  found  among  the  files  :  — 

“  The  Examination  of  Sarah  Good  before  the  Worshipful 
Esqrs.  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan  Corwin. 

“  Sarah  Good,  what  evil  spirit  have  you  familiarity 
with  ?  —  None. 

“  Have  you  made  no  contracts  with  the  Devil  ?  —  No. 

“  Why  do  you  hurt  these  children  ?  —  I  do  not  hurt  them. 
I  scorn  it. 

“  Who  do  you  employ  then  to  do  it  ?  —  I  employ  nobody. 

“  What  creature  do  you  employ  then?  —  No  creature  :  but 
I  am  falsely  accused. 

“  Why  did  you  go  away  muttering  from  Mr.  Parris  his 
house?  —  I  did  not  mutter,  but  I  thanked  him  for  what  he 
gave  my  child. 

“  Have  you  made  no  contract  with  the  Devil  ?  — No. 

“  Hathorne  desired  the  children  all  of  them  to  look  upon 
her,  and  see  if  this  were  the  person  that  hurt  them  ;  and  so  they 
all  did  look  upon  her,  and  said  this  was  one  of  the  persons 
that  did  torment  them.  Presently  they  were  all  tormented. 


14 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Sarah  Good,  do  you  not  see  now  what  you  have 
done?  Why  do  you  not  tell  us  the  truth?  Why  do  you 
thus  torment  these  poor  children?  —  I  do  not  torment 
them. 

“Who  do  you  employ  then?  —  I  employ  nobody.  I 
scorn  it. 

“How  came  they  thus  tormented?  —  What  do  I  know? 
You  bring  others  here,  and  now  you  charge  me  with  it. 

“  Why,  who  Avas  it  ?  —  I  do  not  know  but  it  was  some 
you  brought  into  the  meeting-house  with  you. 

“We  brought  you  into  the  meeting-house.  —  But  you 
brought  in  tAvo  more. 

“  Who  Avas  it,  then,  that  tormented  the  children  ?  —  It 
was  Osburn. 

“  What  is  it  you  say  AArheu  you  go  muttering  away  from 
persons’  houses  ?  —  If  I  must  tell,  I  Avill  tell. 

“  Do  tell  us  then.  —  If  I  must  tell,  I  Avill  tell :  it  is  the 
Commaudments.  I  may  say  my  Commandments,  I  hope. 

“  AVhat  Commandment  is  it?  —  If  I  must  tell  you,  I  Avill 
tell :  it  is  a  psalm. 

“  What  psalm  ? 

“  (After  a  long  time  she  muttered  over  some  part  of  a 
psalm.) 

“Who  do  you  serve?  —  I  serve  God. 

“  What  God  do  you  serve  ?  —  The  God  that  made  heaven 
and  earth  (though  she  Avas  not  Avilling  to  mention  the  Avord 
‘  God’).  Her  answers  Avere  in  a  very  Avicked.  spiteful  man¬ 
ner,  reflecting  and  retorting  against  the  authority  with  base 
and  abusive  Avords  ;  and  many  lies  she  Avas  taken  in.  It  Avas 
here  said  that  her  husband  had  said  that  he  Avas  afraid  that 
she  either  Avas  a  witch  or  Avould  be  one  very  quickly.  The 
Avorshipful  Mr.  Hathorne,  asked  him  his  reason  Avhy  he 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


15 


said  so  of  her,  whether  he  had  ever  seen  any  thing  by  her. 
lie  answered  ‘  No,  not  in  this  nature  ;  but  it  was  her  bad 
carriage  to  him  :  and  indeed,’  said  he,  ‘  I  may  say  with  tears, 
that  she  is  an  enemy  to  all  good.’  ” 

The  foregoing  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Ezekiel  Chee- 
ver.  The  following  is  in  that  of  John  Hathorne  :  — 

“Salem  Village,  March  the  1st,  1692.  —  Sarah  Good, 
upon  examination,  denied  the  matter  of  fact  (viz.)  that  she 
ever  used  any  witchcraft,  or  hurt  the  abovesaid  children,  or 
any  of  them. 

“  The  abovenamed  children,  being  all  present,  positively 
accused  her  of  hurting;  of  them  sundry  times  within  this 
two  months,  and  also  that  morning.  Sarah  Good  denied 
that  she  had  been  at  their  houses  in  said  time  or  near  them, 
or  had  done  them  any  hurt.  All  the  abovesaid  children 
then  present  accused  her  face  to  face  ;  upon  which  they 
were  all  dreadfully  tortured  and  tormented  for  a  short  space 
of  time  ;  and,  the  affliction  and  tortures  being  over,  they 
charged  said  Sarah  Good  again  that  she  had  then  so  tor¬ 
tured  them,  and  came  to  them  and  did  it,  although  she  was 
personally  then  kept  at  a  considerable  distance  from  them. 

“  Sarah  Good  being  asked  if  that  she  did  not  then  hurt 
them,  who  did  it;  and  the  children  being  again  tortured, 
she  looked  upon  them,  and  said  that  it  was  one  of  them 
we  brought  into  the  house  with  us.  We  asked  her  who 
it  was  :  she  theu  answered,  and  said  it  was  Sarah  Osburn, 
and  Sarah  Osburn  was  then  under  custody,  and  not  in 
the  house  ;  and  the  children,  being  quickly  after  recovered 
out  of  their  fit,  said  that  it  was  Sarah  Good  and  also 
Sarah  Osburn  that  then  did  hurt  and  torment  or  afflict 
them,  although  both  of  them  at  the  same  time  at  a  distance 


16 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


or  remote  from  them  personally.  There  were  also  sundry 
other  questions  put  to  her,  and  answers  given  thereunto  by 
her  according  as  is  also  given  in.” 

It  will  he  noticed  that  the  examination  was  con¬ 
ducted  in  the  form  of  questions  put  hy  the  magistrate, 
Hathorne,  based  upon  a  foregone  conclusion  of  the 
prisoner’s  guilt,  and  expressive  of  a  conviction,  all 
along  on  his  part,  that  the  evidence  of  “  the  afflicted  ” 
against  her  amounted  to,  and  was,  absolute  demonstra¬ 
tion.  It  will  also  he  noticed,  that,  severe  as  was  the 
opinion  of  her  husband  in  reference  to  her  general 
conduct,  he  could  not  be  made  to  say  that  he  had  ever 
noticed  any  thing  in  her  of  the  nature  of  witchcraft. 
The  torments  the  girls  affected  to  experience  in  look¬ 
ing  at  her  must  have  produced  an  overwhelming  effect 
on  the  crowd,  as  they  did  on  the  magistrate,  and  even 
on  the  poor,  amazed  creature  herself.  She  did  not 
seem  to  doubt  the  reality  of  their  sufferings.  In  this, 
and  in  all  cases,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  account 
of  the  examination  comes  to  us  from  those  who  were 
under  the  wildest  excitement  against  the  prisoners  ; 
that  no  counsel  was  allowed  them ;  that,  if  any  thing 
was  suffered  to  be  said  in  their  defence  by  others,  it 
has  failed  to  reach  us ;  that  the  accused  persons  were 
wholly  unaccustomed  to  such  scenes  and  exposures, 
unsuspicious  of  the  perils  of  a  cross-examination,  or 
of  an  inquisition  conducted  with  a  design  to  entrap 
and  ensnare ;  and  that  what  they  did  say  was  liable 
to  be  misunderstood,  as  well  as  misrepresented.  We 
cannot  hear  their  story.  All  we  know  is  from  parties 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


17 


prejudiced,  to  the  highest  degree,  against  them.  Sarah 
Good  was  an  unfortunate  and  miserable  woman  in  her 
circumstances  and  condition :  but,  from  all  that  ap¬ 
pears  on  the  record,  making  due  allowance  for  the  cre¬ 
dulity,  extravagance,  prejudice,  folly,  or  malignity  of 
the  witnesses  ;  giving  full  effect  to  every  thing  that  can 
claim  the  character  of  substantial  force  alleged  against 
her,  it  is  undeniable,  that  there  was  not,  beyond  the 
afflicted  girls,  a  particle  of  evidence  to  sustain  the 
charge  on  which  she  was  arraigned ;  and  that,  in 
the  worst  aspect  of  her  case,  she  was  an  object  for 
compassion,  rather  than  punishment.  Altogether,  the 
proceedings  against  her,  which  terminated  with  her  exe¬ 
cution,  were  cruel  and  shameful  to  the  highest  degree. 

On  the  conclusion  of  her  examination,  she  was  re¬ 
moved  from  the  meeting-house,  and  Sarah  Osburn 
brought  in.  Her  selection,  as  one  of  the  persons  to 
be  first  cried  out  upon,  was  judicious.  The  public 
mind  was  prepared  to  believe  the  charge  against  her. 
Her  original  name  was  Sarah  Warren.  She  was  mar¬ 
ried,  April  5,  1662,  to  Robert  Prince,  who  belonged  to 
a  leading  family,  and  owned  a  valuable  farm.  He 
died  early,  leaving  her  with  two  young  children,  James 
and  Joseph. 

In  the  early  colonial  period,  it  was  the  custom  for 
persons  who  desired  to  come  from  the  old  country  to 
America,  but  had  not  the  means  to  defray  the  ex¬ 
penses  of  the  passage,  to  let  or  sell  themselves,  for  a 
greater  or  less  length  of  time,  to  individuals  residing 
here  who  needed  their  service.  The  practice  continued 

2 


VOL.  II. 


18 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


down  to  the  present  century.  Emigrants  who  thus 
sold  themselves  for  a  period  of  years  were  called 
“  redemptioners.”  Alexander  Osburn  came  over  from 
Ireland  in  this  character.  The  widow  of  Robert  Prince 
bought  out  the  residue  of  his  time  from  the  person  to 
whom  he  was  thus  under  contract,  for  fifteen  pounds, 
and  employed  him  to  carry  on  her  farm.  After  a 
while,  she  married  him.  This,  it  is  probable,  gave  rise 
to  some  criticism  ;  and,  as  her  boys  grew  up,  became 
more  and  more  disagreeable  to  them.  The  marriage, 
as  was  natural,  led  to  unhappy  results.  In  1720,  after 
Osburn  had  been  dead  some  years,  a  curious  case  was 
brought  into  court,  in  which  the  sons  of  Robert  Prince 
testified  that  Osburn  treated  their  mother  and  them 
with  great  cruelty  and  barbarity.  They  had  become 
of  age  before  their  mother’s  death,  and  had  signed 
their  names  to  a  deed  conveying  away  land  belonging 
to  their  patrimony.  The  object  of  the  suit  was  to  in¬ 
validate  the  conveyance  by  proving  that  they  were  com¬ 
pelled  by  Osburn  to  sign  the  deed,  he  using  threats 
and  violence  upon  them  at  the  time.  There  was  an 
extraordinary  conflict  of  testimony  in  the  trial ;  some 
witnesses  strongly  corroborating  the  accusations  of  the 
Princes,  and  some  equally  strong  in  vindication  of 
the  character  of  Osburn.  It  was  shown,  that,  in  the 
opinion  of  several  of  his  neighbors,  he  was  an  indus¬ 
trious,  respectable,  and  worthy  person.  It  is  difficult 
to  determine  the  precise  merits  of  the  case.  After  the 
death  of  his  wife,  Osburn  married  Ruth,  a  daughter  of 
William  Cantlebury,  and  widow  of  William  Sibley. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


19 


She  was  a  woman  of  unquestioned  excellence  of  char¬ 
acter,  and  of  a  large  landed  estate.  Osburn  was  her 
third  husband,  the  first  having  been  Thomas  Small. 
After  her  marriage  to  Osburn,  he  and  she  joined  the 
church,  and  were  reputable  persons  in  all  respects.  He 
was  well  regarded  as  a  citizen,  and  often  on  the  parish 
committee.  Neither  he  nor  the  widow  Sibley  appear  to 
have  been  implicated  in  the  witchcraft  proceedings  in 
any  other  particular  than  that  he  testified  that  his  then 
wife  Sarah  had  not  been  for  some  time  at  meeting. 
There  is  no  indication  that  this  was  volunteer  testi¬ 
mony.  He  and  his  wife  Ruth  were  among  the  firmest 
opponents  of  Mr.  Parris.  There  is  no  mention  of  his 
having  had  children  by  either  of  his  American  wives. 
His  son  John,  who  probably  came  with  him  to  the 
country,  was  an  inhabitant  of  the  Village ;  and  his 
name  is  on  the  rate-list,  for  the  last  time,  in  1718,  his 
father  having  died  some  years  before.  The  Osborne 
family,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  does  not  appear  to 
have  sprung  from  this  source. 

Without  attempting  to  decide  where,  or  in  what  pro¬ 
portions,  the  blame  is  to  be  laid,  the  fact  is  evident,  that 
the  marriage  of  the  widow  Sarah  Prince  to  Alexander 
Osburn  was  an  unhappy  one.  Her  mind  became  de¬ 
pressed,  if  not  distracted.  For  some  time,  she  had 
been  bedridden.  Of  course,  as  she  had  occupied  a 
respectable  social  position,  and  was  a  woman  of  prop¬ 
erty,  her  case  naturally  gave  rise  to  scandal.  Rumor 
was  busy  and  gossip  rife  in  reference  to  her ;  and  it 
was  quite  natural  that  she  should  have  been  suggested 


20 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


for  the  accusing  girls  to  pitch  upon.  The  following  is 
an  account  of  her  examination  by  the  magistrates,  in 
the  handwriting  of  John  Hatliorne :  — 

“  Sarah  Osburne,  upon  examination,  denied  the  matter  of 
fact,  viz.,  that  she  ever  understood  or  used  any  witchcraft,  or 
hurt  any  of  the  abovesaid  children. 

“  The  children  above  named,  being  all  personally  present, 
accused  her  face  to  face;  which,  being  done,  they  were  all 
hurt,  afflicted,  and  tortured  very  much ;  which,  being  over,  and 
they  out  of  their  fits,  they  said  that  said  Sarah  Osburne  did 
then  come  to  them,  and  hurt  them,  Sarah  Osburne  being  then 
kept  at  a  distance  personally  from  them.  Sarah  Osburne 
was  asked  wrhy  she  then  hurt  them.  She  denied  it.  It  being 
asked  of  her  how  she  could  so  pinch  and  hurt  them,  and  yet 
she  be  at  that  distance  personally  from  them,  she  answered 
she  did  not  then  hurt  them,  nor  ever  did.  She  was  asked  who, 
then,  did  it,  or  who  she  employed  to  do  it.  She  answered 
she  did  not  know  that  the  Devil  goes  about  iu  her  likeness  to 
do  any  hurt.  Sarah  Osburne,  being  told  that  Sarah  Good, 
one  of  her  companions,  had,  upon  examination,  accused 
her,  she,  notwithstanding,  denied  the  same,  according  to  her 
examination,  which  is  more  at  large  given  in,  as  therein  will 
appear.” 

The  following  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Ezekiel 
Cheever :  — 

“  Sarah  Osburn  her  Examination. 

“  What  evil  spirit  have  you  familiarity  with  ?  —  None. 

“Have  you  made  no  contract  with  the  Devil?  —  No:  I 
never  saw  the  Devil  in  my  life. 

“  Why  do  you  hurt  these  children  ?  —  I  do  not  hurt  them. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


21 


“  Who  do  you  employ,  then,  to  hurt  them?  —  I  employ 
nobody. 

“  What  familiarity  have  you  with  Sarah  Good  ? — None  : 
I  have  not  seen  her  these  two  years. 

“Where  did  you  see  her  then?  —  One  day,  agoing  to 
town. 

“  What  communications  had  you  with  her  ?  —  I  had  none, 
only  ‘  How  do  you  do  ?  ’  or  so.  I  do  not  kuow  her  by  name. 

“  What  did  you  call  her,  then  ? 

“  (Osburn  made  a  stand  at  that ;  at  last,  said  she  called 
her  Sarah.) 

“  Sarah  Good  saith  that  it  was  you  that  hurt  the  children. 
—  I  do  not  know  that  the  Devil  goes  about  iu  my  likeness  to 
do  any  hurt. 

“  Mr.  Hathorne  desired  all  the  children  to  stand  up,  and 
look  upon  her,  and  see  if  they  did  kuow  her,  which  they 
all  did  ;  and  every  one  of  them  said  that  this  was  one  of  the 
women  that  did  afflict  them,  and  that  they  had  constantly 
seen  her  in  the  very  habit  that  she  was  now  in.  Three  evi¬ 
dences  declared  that  she  said  this  morning,  that  she  was 
more  like  to  be  bewitched  than  that  she  was  a  witch.  Mr. 
Hathorne  asked  her  what  made  her  say  so.  She  answered 
that  she  was  frighted  one  time  in  her  sleep,  and  either  saw, 
or  dreamed  that  she  saw,  a  thing  like  an  Indian  all  black, 
which  did  pinch  her  iu  her  neck,  and  pulled  her  by  the  back 
part  of  her  head  to  the  door  of  the  house. 

“  Did  you  never  see  any  thing  else  ?  —  No. 

“  (It  was  said  by  some  in  the  meeting-house,  that  she  had 
said  that  she  would  never  believe  that  lying  spirit  any  more.) 

“What  lying  spirit  is  this?  Hath  the  Devil  ever  de¬ 
ceived  you,  and  been  false  to  you  ?  —  I  do  not  know  the 
Devil.  I  never  did  see  him. 


22 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  What  lying  spirit  was  it,  then  ?  —  It  was  a  voice  that  I 
thought  I  heard. 

“  What  did  it  propound  to  you  ?  —  That  I  should  go  no 
more  to  meeting ;  but  I  said  I  would,  and  did  go  the  next 
sabbath-day. 

“  Were  you  never  tempted  further?  —  No. 

“  Why  did  you  yield  thus  far  to  the  Devil  as  never  to  go  to 
meeting  since  ?  —  Alas  !  I  have  been  sick,  and  not  able  to  go. 

“  Her  husband  and  others  said  that  she  had  not  been  at 
meeting  three  years  and  two  months.” 

The  foregoing  illustrates  the  unfairness  practised 
by  the  examining  magistrate.  He  took  for  granted, 
as  we  shall  find  to  have  been  the  case  in  all  instances, 
the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  and  endeavored  to  entangle 
her  by  leading  questions,  thus  involving  her  in  con¬ 
tradiction.  By  the  force  of  his  own  assumptions,  he 
had  compelled  Sarah  Good  to  admit  the  reality  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  girls,  and  that  they  must  be  caused 
by  some  one.  The  amount  of  what  she  had  said  was, 
that,  if  caused  by  one  or  the  other  of  them,  “  then  it 
must  be  Osburn,”  for  she  was  sure  of  her  own  inno¬ 
cence.  This  expression,  to  which  she  was  driven  in 
self-exculpation,  was  perverted  by  the  reporter,  Ezekiel 
Cheever,  and  by  the  magistrate,  into  an  indirect  con¬ 
fession  and  a  direct  accusation  of  Osburn.  In  the 
absence  of  Good,  the  magistrate  told  Osburn  that 
Good  had  confessed  and  accused  her.  This  was  a 
misrepresentation  of  one,  and  a  false  and  fraudulent 
trick  upon  the  other.  Considering  the  feeble  condition 
of  Sarah  Osburn  generally,  the  snares  by  which  she 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


23 


was  beset,  the  distressing  and  bewildering  circum¬ 
stances  in  which  she  was  placed,  and  the  infirm  state 
of  her  reason,  as  evidenced  in  her  statement  of  what 
she  saw,  or  dreamed  that  she  saw  and  heard,  —  not 
having  a  clear  idea  which,  —  her  answers,  as  reported 
hj  the  prosecutors,  show  that  her  broken  and  disor¬ 
dered  mind  was  essentially  truthful  and  innocent. 

Sarah  Osburn  was  removed  from  the  meeting-house, 
and  Titnba  brought  in  and  examined,  as  follows :  — 

“  Tituba,  what  evil  spirit  have  you  familiarity  with  ?  — 
None. 

“  Why  do  you  hurt  these  children  ?  —  I  do  not  hurt 
them. 

“  Who  is  it  then  ?  —  The  Devil,  for  aught  I  know. 

“  Did  you  never  see  the  Devil  ?  —  The  Devil  came  to  me, 
and  bid  me  serve  him. 

“  Who  have  you  seen?  —  Four  women  sometimes  hurt 
the  children. 

“Who  were  they?  —  Goody  Osburn  and  Sarah  Good, 
and  I  do  not  know  who  the  others  were.  Sarah  Good  and 
Osburn  would  have  me  hurt  the  children,  but  I  would 
not. 

“  (She  further  saith  there  was  a  tall  man  of  Boston  that 
she  did  see.) 

“  When  did  you  see  them  ?  —  Last  night,  at  Boston. 

“What  did  they  say  to  you?  —  They  said,  ‘Hurt  the 
children.’ 

“And  did  you  hurt  them?  —  No:  there  is  four  women 
and  one  man,  they  hurt  the  children,  and  then  they  lay  all 
upon  me  ;  and  they  tell  me,  if  I  will  not  hurt  the  children, 
they  will  hurt  me. 


24 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  But  did  you  not  hurt  them  ?  —  Yes  ;  but  I  will  hurt  them 
no  more. 

“  Are  you  not  sorry  that  you  did  hurt  them  ?  —  Yes. 

“  And  why,  then,  do  you  hurt  them  ?  —  They  say,  ‘  Hurt 
children,  or  we  will  do  worse  to  you.’ 

“  What  have  you  seen  ? — A  man  come  to  me,  and  say, 
‘  Serve  me.’ 

“What  service?  —  Hurt  the  children:  and  last  night 
there  was  an  appearance  that  said,  ‘  Kill  the  children  ;  ’  and, 
if  I  would  not  go  on  hurting  the  children,  they  would  do 
worse  to  me. 

“  What  is  this  appearance  you  see  ?  —  Sometimes  it  is 
like  a  hog,  and  sometimes  like  a  great  dog. 

“  (This  appearance  she  saith  she  did  see  four  times.) 

“  What  did  it  say  to  you?  —  The  black  dog  said,  ‘  Serve 
me  ;  ’  but  I  said,  ‘  I  am  afraid.’  He  said,  if  I  did  not,  he 
would  do  worse  to  me. 

“  What  did  you  say  to  it?  —  I  will  serve  you  no  longer. 
Then  he  said  he  would  hurt  me  ;  and  then  he  looks  like  a 
man,  and  threatens  to  hurt  me.  (She  said  that  this  man  had 
a  yellow-bird  that  kept  with  him.)  And  he  told  me  he  had 
more  pretty  things  that  he  would  give  me,  if  I  would  serve 
him. 

“  Wliat  were  these  pretty  things  ?  —  He  did  not  show  me 
them. 

“  What  else  have  you  seen  ?  —  Two  cats  ;  a  red  cat,  and 
a  black  cat. 

“What  did  they  say  to  you?  —  They  said,  ‘Serve 
me.’ 

“  When  did  you  see  them  ?  —  Last  night ;  and  they  said, 

‘  Serve  me  ;  ’  but  I  said  I  would  not. 

“  What  service  ?  —  She  said,  hurt  the  children. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


25 


“Did  you  not  pincli  Elizabeth  Hubbard  this  morning? 
—  The  man  brought  her  to  me,  and  made  pinch  her. 

“  Why  did  you  go  to  Thomas  Putnam’s  last  night,  and 
hurt  his  child  ?  —  They  pull  and  haul  me,  and  make  go. 

“And  what  would  they  have  you  do?  —  Kill  her  with  a 
knife. 

“  (Lieutenant  Fuller  and  others  said  at  this  time,  when 
the  child  saw  these  persons,  and  Avas  tormented  by  them, 
that  she  did  complain  of  a  knife,  —  that  they  Avould  have 
her  cut  her  head  off  with  a  knife.) 

“  IIow  did  you  go  ?  —  We  ride  upon  sticks,  and  are  there 
presently. 

“Do  you  go  through  the  trees  or  over  them?  —  We  see 
nothing,  but  are  there  presently. 

“  Why  did  you  not  tell  your  master  ?  —  I  was  afraid  : 
they  said  they  Avould  cut  off  my  head  if  I  told. 

“  Would  you  not  have  hurt  others,  if  you  could?  —  They 
said  they  would  hurt  others,  but  they  could  not. 

“What  attendants  hath  Sarah  Good?  —  A  yellow-bird, 
and  she  would  have  given  me  one. 

“  What  meat  did  she  give  it  ?  —  It  did  suck  her  betAveen 
her  fingers. 

“Did  you  not  hurt  Mr.  Curren’s  child?  —  Goody  Good 
and  Goody  Osburn  told  that  they  did  hurt  Mr.  Curren’s 
child,  and  Avould  ha\re  had  me  hurt  him  too  ;  but  I  did  not. 

“  What  hath  Sarah  Osburn?  —  Yesterday  she  had  a  thing 
Avith  a  head  like  a  Avoman,  with  two  legs  and  wings. 

“  (Abigail  Williams,  that  lives  with  her  uncle  Mr.  Parris, 
said  that  she  did  see  the  same  crea'ture,  and  it  turned  into 
the  shape  of  Goodie  Osburn.) 

“What  else  have  you  seen  Avith  Osburn?  —  Another 
thing,  hairy  :  it  goes  upright  like  a  man,  it  hath  only  two  legs. 


26 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Did  you  not  see  Sarah  Good  upon  Elizabeth  Hubbard, 
last  Saturday  ?  —  I  did  see  her  set  a  wolf  upon  her  to  afflict 
her. 

“  (The  persons  with  this  maid  did  say  that  she  did  com¬ 
plain  of  a  wolf.  She  further  said  that  she  saw  a  cat  with 
Good  at  another  time.) 

“  What  clothes  doth  the  man  go  in  ?  —  lie  goes  in  black 
clothes  ;  a  tall  man,  with  white  hair,  I  think. 

“  How  doth  the  woman  go  ?  —  In  a  white  hood,  and  a 
black  hood  with  a  top-knot. 

“  Do  you  see  who  it  is  that  torments  these  children  now  ? 
—  Yes  :  it  is  Goody  Good  ;  she  hurts  them  in  her  own  shape. 

“  Who  is  it  that  hurts  them  now  ?  —  I  am  blind  now  :  I 
cannot  see. 

“  Written  by  Ezekiel  Ciieever. 
“Salem  Village,  March  the  1st,  1692.” 

Another  report  of  Tituba’s  examination  has  been 
preserved,  and  may  be  found  in  the  second  volume  of 
the  collection  edited  by  Samuel  G.  Drake,  entitled  the 
“  Witchcraft  Delusion  in  New  England.”  It  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  Jonathan  Corwin,  very  full  and  minute, 
and  shows  that  the  Indian  woman  was  familiar  with  all 
the  ridiculous  and  monstrous  fancies  then  prevalent. 
The  details  of  her  statement  cover  nearly  the  whole 
ground  of  them.  While  indicating,  in  most  respects, 
a  mind  at  the  lowest  level  of  general  intelligence, 
they  give  evidence  of  cunning  and  wariness  in  the 
highest  degree.  This  document  is  also  valuable,  as 
it  affords  information  about  particulars,  incidentally 
mentioned  and  thus  rescued  from  oblivion,  which 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  27 

serve  to  bring  back  the  life  of  the  past.  Tituba  de¬ 
scribes  the  dresses  of  some  of  the  witches  :  “  A  black 
silk  hood,  with  a  white  silk  hood  under  it,  with  top- 
knots.”  One  of  them  wore  “  a  serge  coat,  with  a  white 
cap.”  The  Devil  appeared  “  in  black  clothes  some¬ 
times,  sometimes  serge  coat  of  other  color.”  She 
speaks  of  the  “  lean-to  chamber  ”  in  the  parsonage,  and 
describes  an  aerial  night  ride  “  up  ”  to  Thomas  Put¬ 
nam’s.  “  How  did  you  go  ?  What  did  you  ride 
upon  ?  ”  asked  the  wondering  magistrate.  “  I  ride 
upon  a  stick,  or  pole,  and  Good  and  Osburn  behind 
me :  we  ride  taking  hold  of  one  another ;  don’t  know 
how  we  go,  for  I  saw  no  trees  nor  path,  but  was  pres¬ 
ently  there  when  we  were  up.”  In  both  reports,  Tituba 
describes,  quite  graphically,  the  likenesses  in  which  the 
Devil  appeared  to  his  confederates ;  but  Corwin  gives 
the  details  more  fully  than  Clieever.  What  the  latter 
reports  of  the  appearances  in  which  the  Devil  accom¬ 
panied  Osburn,  the  former  amplifies.  “The  thing  with 
two  legs  and  wings,  and  a  face  like  a  woman,”  “  turns” 
into  a  full  woman.  The  “  hairy  thing  ”  becomes  “  a 
thing  all  over  hairy,  all  the  face  hairy,  and  a  long  nose, 
and  I  don’t  know  how  to  tell  how  the  face  looks ;  is 
about  two  or  three  feet  high,  and  goeth  upright  like  a 
man ;  and,  last  night,  it  stood  before  the  fire  in  Mr. 
Parris’s  hall.” 

It  is  quite  evident  that  the  part  played  by  the  Indian 
woman  on  this  occasion  was  pre-arranged.  She  had, 
from  the  first,  been  concerned  with  the  circle  of 
girls  in  their  necromantic  operations  ;  and  her  state- 


28 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


merits  show  the  materials  out  of  which  their  ridicu¬ 
lous  and  monstrous  stories  were  constructed.  She 
said  that  there  were  four  who  “  hurt  the  children.” 
Upon  being  pressed  by  the  magistrate  to  tell  who  they 
were,  she  named  Osburn  and  Good,  but  did  “  not  know 
who  the  others  were.”  Two  others  were  marked  ;  but 
it  was  not  thought  best  to  bring  them  out  until  these 
three  examinations  had  first  been  made  to  tell  upon 
the  public  mind.  Tituba  had  been  apprised  of  Eliza¬ 
beth  Hubbard’s  story,  that  she  had  been  “  pinched  ” 
that  morning ;  and,  as  well  as  “  Lieutenant  Fuller 
and  others,”  had  heard  of  the  delirious  exclamation  of 
Thomas  Putnam’s  sick  child  during  the  night.  “  Abi¬ 
gail  Williams,  that  lives  with  her  uncle  Parris,” 
had  communicated  to  the  Indian  slave  the  story  of 
“  the  woman  with  two  legs  and  wings.”  In  fact,  she 
had  been  fully  admitted  to  their  councils,  and  made 
acquainted  with  all  the  stories  they  were  to  tell.  But, 
when  it  became  necessary  to  avoid  specifications 
touching  parties  whose  names  it  had  been  decided  not 
to  divulge  at  that  stage  of  the  business,  the  wily  old 
servant  escapes  further  interrogation,  “  I  am  blind 
now :  I  cannot  see.” 

Proceedings  connected  with  these  examinations  were 
continued  several  days.  The  result  appears,  in  the 
handwriting  of  John  Hathorne,  as  follows:  — 

“Salem  Village,  March  1,  169|.  —  Tituba,  an  Indian 
woman,  brought  before  us  by  Constable  Jos.  Herrick,  of 
Salem,  upon  suspicion  of  witchcraft  by  her  committed,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  complaint  of  Jos.  Hutchinson  and  Thomas 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


29 


Putnam,  &c.,  of  Salem  Village,  as  appears  per  warrant 
granted,  Salem,  29th  February,  169J.  Tituba,  upon  ex¬ 
amination,  and  after  some  denial,  acknowledged  the  matter 
of  fact,  as,  according  to  her  examination  given  in,  more 
fully  will  appear,  and  who  also  charged  Sarah  Good  and 
Sarah  Osburn  with  the  same. 

“Salem  Village,  March  the  1st,  169V  —  Sarah  Good, 
Sarah  Osburn,  and  Tituba,  an  Indian  woman,  all  of  Salem 
Village,  being  this  day  brought  before  us,  upon  suspicion  of 
witchcraft,  &c.,  by  them  and  every  one  of  them  committed ; 
Tituba,  an  Indian  woman,  acknowledging  the  matter  of 
fact,  and  Sarah  Osburn  and  Sarah  Good  denying  the  same 
before  us  ;  but  there  appearing,  in  all  their  examinations, 
sufficient  ground  to  secure  them  all.  And,  in  order  to  fur¬ 
ther  examination,  they  were  all  per  mittimus  sent  to  the  jails 
in  the  county  of  Essex. 

“  Salem,  March  2.  —  Sarah  Osburn  again  examined, 
and  also  Tituba,  as  will  appear  in  their  examinations  given 
in.  Tituba  again  acknowledged  the  fact,  and  also  accused 
the  other  two. 

“  Salem,  March  3.  —  Sarah  Osburn,  and  Tituba,  Indian, 
again  examined.  The  examination  now  given  in.  Tituba 
again  said  the  same. 

“  Salem,  March  5.  —  Sarah  Good  and  Tituba  again  ex¬ 
amined  ;  and,  in  their  examination,  Tituba  acknowledged 
the  same  she  did  formerly,  and  accused  the  other  two  above 
said. 


30 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Salem,  March  the  7th,  169^. —  Sarah  Good,  Sarah 
Osburn,  and  Tituha,  an  Indian  woman,  all  sent  to  the  jail 
in  Boston,  according  to  their  mittimuses ,  then  sent  to  their 
Majesties’  jail-keeper.” 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  magistrates  did  not  ven¬ 
ture  to  put  into  tliis  their  final  record,  what  they  had 
unfairly  tried  to  make  Sarah  Osborn  believe,  that  Sarah 
Good  had  been  a  witness  against  her.  The  jail  at  Ips¬ 
wich  was  at  a  distance  of  at  least  ten  miles  from  the 
village  meeting-house,  by  any  road  that  could  then  have 
been  travelled.  The  transferrence  of  the  prisoners 
day  after  day  must  have  been  very  fatiguing  to  a  sick 
woman  like  Sarah  Osburn.  Sarah  Good  seems  to 
have  been  able  to  bear  it.  Samuel  Braybrook,  an  assist¬ 
ant  constable,  having  charge  of  her,  says,  that,  on  the 
way  to  Ipswich,  she  “  leaped  off  her  horse  three  times ;  ” 
that  she  “  railed  against  the  magistrates,  and  endeav¬ 
ored  to  kill  herself.”  He  further  testified,  that,  at  the 
very  time  she  was  performing  these  feats,  Thomas  Put¬ 
nam’s  daughter,  “  at  her  father’s  house,  declared  the 
same.”  As  Braybrook  was  many  miles  from  Thomas 
Putnam’s  house,  at  the  moment  when  his  wonderful 
daughter  exercised  this  miraculous  extent  of  vision,  it 
would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to  have  had  some 
other  testimony  to  the  fact.  I  mention  this  to  show  of 
what  stuff  the  evidence  in  these  cases  was  made,  and 
the  credulity  with  which  every  thing  was  swallowed. 
The  prisoners  were  put  to  examination  each  day. 

Osburn  and  Good  steadily  maintained  their  inno¬ 
cence.  Tituba  all  along  declared  herself  guilty,  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


31 


accused  the  other  two  of  having  been  with  her  in  con¬ 
federacy  with  the  Devil.  Mr.  Parris  made  the  follow¬ 
ing  deposition,  in  relation  to  these  examinations,  to 
which  he  subsequently  swore  in  Court,  at  the  trial  of 
Sarah  Good :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Sam  :  Parris,  aged  about  thirty 
and  nine  years.  —  Testifieth  and  saith,  that  Elizabeth  Par¬ 
ris,  Jr.,  and  Abigail  Williams,  and  Ann  Putnam,  Jr., 
and  Elizabeth  Hubbard,  were  most  grievously  and  several 
times  tortured  during  the  examination  of  Sarah  Good,  Sarah 
Osburn,  and  Tituba,  Indian,  before  the  magistrates  at  Salem 
Village,  1  March,  1692.  And  the  said  Tituba  being  the  last 
of  the  above  said  that  was  examined,  they,  the  above  said 
afflicted  persons,  were  grievously  distressed  until  the  said 
Indian  began  to  confess,  and  then  they  were  immediately 
all  quiet  the  rest  of  the  said  Indian  woman’s  examination. 
Also  Thomas  Putnam,  aged  about  forty  years,  and  Ezekiel 
Cheever,  aged  about  thirty  and  six  years,  testify  to  the  whole 
of  the  above  said ;  and  all  the  three  deponents  aforesaid 
further  testify,  that,  after  the  said  Indian  began  to  confess, 
she  was  herself  very  much  afflicted,  and  in  the  face  of 
authority  at  the  same  time,  and  openly  charged  the  above- 
said  Good  and  Osburn  as  the  persons  that  afflicted  her,  the 
aforesaid  Indian.” 

By  comparing  these  depositions  with  the  other  docu¬ 
ments  I  have  presented,  it  will  be  seen  how  admirably 
the  whole  affair  was  arranged,  so  far  as  concerned  the 
part  played  by  Tituba.  She  commences  her  testimony 
by  declaring  her  innocence.  The  afflicted  children 
are  instantly  thrown  into  torments,  which,  however, 


32 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


subside  as  soon  as  she  begins  to  confess.  Immediately 
after  commencing  her  confession,  and  as  she  proceeds 
in  it,  she  herself  becomes  tormented  “  in  the  face  of 
authority,”  before  the  eyes  of  the  magistrates  and  the 
awestruck  crowd.  Her  power  to  afflict  ceases  as  she 
breaks  loose  from  her  compact  with  the  Devil,  who 
sends  some  unseen  confederate,  not  then  brought 
to  light,  to  wreak  his  vengeance  upon  her  for  having 
confessed.  Tituba,  as  well  as  the  girls,  showed  her¬ 
self  an  adept  in  the  arts  taught  in  the  circle. 

All  we  know  of  Sarah  Osburn  beyond  this  date  are 
the  following  items  in  the  Boston  jailer’s  bill  “  against 
the  country,”  dated  May  29,  1692 :  “  To  chains  for 
Sarah  Good  and  Sarah  Osburn,  14  shillings :  ”  “  To 
the  keeping  of  Sarah  Osburn,  from  the  7th  of  March 
to  the  10th  of  May,  when  she  died,  being  nine  weeks 
and  two  days,  £1.  3s.  5 d.” 

The  only  further  information  we  have  of  Tituba  is 
from  Calef,  who  says,  “  The  account  she  since  gives 
of  it  is,  that  her  master  did  beat  her,  and  otherwise 
abuse  her,  to  make  her  confess  and  accuse  (such  as 
he  called)  her  sister-witches  ;  and  that  whatsoever  she 
said  by  way  of  confessing  or  accusing  others  was  the 
effect  of  such  usage  :  her  master  refused  to  pay  her  fees, 
unless  she  would  stand  to  what  she  had  said.  Calef 
further  states  that  she  laid  in  jail  until  finally  “  sold  for 
her  fees.”  The  jailer’s  charge  for  her  “  diet  in  prison 
for  a  year  and  a  month”  appears  in  a  shape  that  cor¬ 
roborates  Calef’s  statements,  which  were  prepared  for 
publication  in  1697,  and  printed  in  London  in  1700. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


33 


Although  zealously  devoted  to  the  work  of  exposing 
the  enormities  connected  with  the  witchcraft  prosecu¬ 
tions,  there  is  no  ground  to  dispute  the  veracity  of 
Calef  as  to  matters  of  fact.  What  he  says  of  the  dec¬ 
larations  of  Tituba,  subsequent  to  her  examination,  is 
quite  consistent  with  a  critical  analysis  of  the  details 
of  the  record  of  that  examination.  It  can  hardly  be 
doubted,  whatever  the  amount  of  severity  employed  to 
make  her  act  the  part  assigned  her,  that  she  was  used 
as  an  instrument  to  give  effect  to  the  delusion. 

Now  let  us  consider  the  state  of  things  that  had 
been  brought  about  in  the  village,  and  in  the  sur¬ 
rounding  country,  at  the  close  of  the  first  week  in 
March,  1692.  The  terrible  sufferings  of  the  girls  in 
Mr.  Parris’s  family  and  of  their  associates,  for  the 
two  preceding  months,  had  become  known  far  and 
wide.  A  universal  sympathy  was  awakened  in  their 
behalf ;  and  a  sentiment  of  horror  sunk  deep  into  all 
hearts,  at  the  dread  demonstration  of  the  diabolical 
rage  in  their  afflicted  and  tortured  persons.  A  few, 
very  few,  distrusted ;  but  the  great  majority,  ninety- 
nine  in  a  hundred  of  all  the  people,  were  completely 
swept  into  the  torrent.  Nathaniel  Putnam  and  Nathan¬ 
iel  Ingersoll  were  entirely  deluded,  and  continued  so 
to  the  end.  Even  Joseph  Hutchinson  was,  for  a  while, 
carried  away.  The  physicians  had  all  given  their 
opinion  that  the  girls  were  suffering  from  an  “  evil 
hand.”  The  neighboring  ministers,  after  a  day’s  fast¬ 
ing  and  prayer,  and  a  scrutinizing  inspection  of  the 
condition  of  the  afflicted  children,  had  given  it,  as 


YOL.  II. 


34 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  result  of  their  most  solemn  judgment,  that  it  was 
a  case  of  witchcraft.  Persons  from  the  neighboring 
towns  had  come  to  the  place,  and  with  their  own  eyes 
received  demonstration  of  the  same  fact.  Mr.  Parris 
made  it  the  topic  of  his  public  prayers  and  preaching. 
The  girls,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  were  under  the  malign 
influence,  to  the  disturbance  and  affrightment  of  the 
congregation.  In  all  companies,  in  all  families,  all 
the  day  long,  the  sufferings  and  distraction  occurring 
in  the  houses  of  Mr.  Parris,  Thomas  Putnam,  and 
others,  and  in  the  meeting-house,  were  topics  of  ex¬ 
cited  conversation ;  and  every  voice  was  loud  in  de¬ 
manding,  every  mind  earnest  to  ascertain,  who  were 
the  persons,  in  confederacy  with  the  Devil,  thus  tortur¬ 
ing,  pinching,  convulsing,  and  bringing  to  the  last 
extremities  of  mortal  agony,  these  afflicted  girls. 
Every  one  felt,  that,  if  the  guilty  authors  of  the  mis¬ 
chief  could  not  be  discovered,  and  put  out  of  the  way, 
no  one  was  safe  for  a  moment.  At  length,  when  th.e 
girls  cried  out  upon  Good,  Osburn,  and  Tituba,  there 
was  a  general  sense  of  satisfaction  and  relief.  It  was 
thought  that  Satan’s  power  might  be  checked.  The  se¬ 
lection  of  the  first  victims  was  well  made.  They  were 
just  the  kind  of  persons  whom  the  public  prejudice 
and  credulity  were  prepared  to  suspect  and  condemn. 
Their  examination  was  looked  for  with  the  utmost  in¬ 
terest,  and  all  flocked  to  witness  the  proceedings. 

In  considering  the  state  of  mind  of  the  people, 
as  they  crowded  into  and  around  the  old  meeting¬ 
house,  we  can  have  no  difficulty  in  realizing  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


35 


tremendous  effects  of  what  there  occurred.  It  was 
felt  that  then,  on  that  spot,  the  most  momentous  crisis 
in  the  world’s  history  had  come.  A  crime,  in  com¬ 
parison  with  which  all  other  crimes  sink  out  of  notice, 
was  being  notoriously  and  defiantly  committed  in  their 
midst.  The  great  enemy  of  God  and*  man  was  let 
loose  among  them.  What  had  filled  the  hearts  of 
•mankind  for  ages,  the  world  over,  with  dread  appre¬ 
hension,  was  come  to  pass ;  and  in  that  village  the 
great  battle,  on  whose  issue  the  preservation  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Lord  on  the  earth  was  suspended,  had 
begun.  Indeed,  no  language,  no  imagery,  no  concep¬ 
tion  of  ours,  can  adequately  express  the  feeling  of 
awful  and  terrible  solemnity  with  which  all  were  over¬ 
whelmed.  No  body  of  men  ever  convened  in  a  more 
highly  wrought  state  of  excitement  than  pervaded  that 
assembly,  when  the  magistrates  entered,  in  all  their 
stern  authority,  and  the  scene  opened  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1692.  A  minister,  probably  Mr.  Parris,  began, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  times,  with  prayer. 
From  what  we  know  of  his  skill  and  talent  in  meet¬ 
ing  such  occasions,  it  may  well  be  supposed  that  his 
language  and  manner  heightened  still  more  the  pas¬ 
sions  of  the  hour.  The  marshal,  of  tall  and  imposing- 
stature  and  aspect,  accompanied  by  his  constables, 
brought  in  the  prisoners.  Sarah  Good,  a  poverty- 
stricken,  wandering,  and  wretched  victim  of  ill-fortune 
and  ill-usage,  was  put  to  the  bar.  Every  effort  was 
made  by  the  examining  magistrate,  aided  by  the  offi¬ 
cious  interference  of  the  marshal,  or  other  deluded  or 


36 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


evil-clisposed  persons,  —  who,  like  him,  were  permitted 
to  interpose  with  charges  or  abusive  expressions,  —  to 
overawe  and  confound,  involve  in  contradictions,  and 
mislead  the  poor  creature,  and  force  her  to  confess 
herself  guilty  and  accuse  others.  In  due  time,  the 
“  afflicted  children  ”  were  brought  in  ;  and  a  scene 
ensued,  such  as  no  person  in  that  crowd  or  in  that 
generation  had  ever  witnessed  before.  Immediately 
on  being  confronted  with  the  prisoner,  and  meeting 
her  eye,  they  fell,  as  if  struck  dead,  to  the  floor;  or 
screeched  in  agony  ;  or  went  into  fearful  spasms  or 
convulsive  fits  ;  or  cried  out  that  they  were  pricked  with 
pins,  pinched,  or  throttled  by  invisible  hands.  They 
were  .severally  brought  up  to  the  prisoner,  and,  upon 
touching  her  person,  instantly  became  calm,  cpiiet, 
and  fully  restored  to  their  senses.  With  one  voice 
they  all  declared  that  Sarah  Good  had  thus  tormented 
them,  by  her  power  as  a  witch  in  league  with  the 
Devil.  The  truth  of  this  charge,  in  the  effect  pro¬ 
duced  by  the  malign  influence  proceeding  from  her, 
was  thus  visible'  to  all  eyes.  All  saw,  too,  how  in¬ 
stantly  upon  touching  her  the  diabolical  effect  ceased  ; 
the  malignant  fluid  passing  back,  like  an  electric  stream, 
into  the  body  of  the  witch.  The  spectacle  was  re¬ 
peated  once  and  again,  the  acting  perfect,  and  the  delu¬ 
sion  consummated.  The  magistrates  and  all  present 
considered  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner  demonstrated,  and 
regarded  her  as  wilfully  and  wickedly  obstinate  in  not 
at  once  confessing  what  her  eyes,  as  well  as  theirs, 
saw.  Her  refusal  to  confess  was  considered  as  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


37 


highest  proof  of  her  guilt.  They  passed  judgment 
against  her,  committed  her  to  the  marshal,  who  hurried 
her  to  prison,  bound  her  with  cords,  and  loaded  her 
with  irons  ;  for  it  was  thought  that  no  ordinary  fasten¬ 
ings  could  hold  a  witch.  Similar  proceedings,  with 
suitable  variations,  were  had  with  Sarah  Osburn  and 
Tituba.  The  confession  of  the  last-named,  the  imme¬ 
diate  relief  thereafter  of  the  afflicted  children,  and  the 
dreadful  torments  which  Tituba  herself  experienced, 
on  the  spot,  from  the  unseen  hand  of  the  Devil 
wreaking  vengeance  upon  her,  put  the  finishing  touch 
to  the  delusion.  The  excitement  was  kept  up,  and 
spread  far  and  wide,  by  the  officers  and  magistrates 
riding  in  cavalcade,  day  after  day,  to  and  from  the 
town  and  village ;  and  by  the  constables,  with  their 
assistants,  carrying  their  manacled  prisoners  from 
jail  to  jail  in  Ipswich,  Salem,  and  Boston. 

The  point  was  now  reached  when  the  accusers  could 
safely  strike  at  higher  game.  But  time  was  taken  to 
mature  arrangements.  Great  curiosity  was  felt  to 
know  who  the  other  two  were  whom  Tituba  saw  in  con¬ 
nection  with  Good  and  Osburn  in  their  hellish  opera¬ 
tions.  The  girls  continued  to  suffer  torments  and  fall 
in  fits,  and  were  constantly  urged  by  large  numbers  of 
people,  going  from  house  to  house  to  witness  their  suf¬ 
ferings,  to  reveal  who  the  witches  were  that  still  afflicted 
them.  When  all  was  prepared,  they  began  to  cry  out, 
with  more  or  less  distinctness ;  at  first,  in  significant 
but  general  descriptions,  and  at  last  calling  names. 
The  next  victim  was  also  well  chosen.  An  account 


38 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


has  been  given,  in  the  First  Part,  of  the  notoriety 
which  circumstances  had  attached  to  Giles  Corey. 
In  1691  he  became  a  member  of  the  church,  being 
then  (Yol.  I.  p.  182)  eighty  years  of  age.  Four 
daughters,  all  probably  by  his  first  wife  Margaret,  the 
only  children  of  whom  there  is  any  mention,  were 
married  to  John  Moulton,  John  Parker,  and  Henry 
Crosby,  of  Salem,  and  William  Cleaves,  of  Beverly. 
On  the  lltli  of  April,  1664,  Corey  was  married  to 
Mary  Britt,  who  died,  as  appears  by  the  inscription  on 
her  gravestone  in  the  old  Salem  burial-ground,  Aug. 
27,  1684.  Martha  was  his  third  wife.  Her  age 
is  unknown.  It  was  entered  on  the  record  of  the 
village  church,  at  the  time  of  her  admission  to  it, 
April  27,  1690 ;  but  the  figures  are  worn  away  from 
the  edge  of  the  page.  She  was  a  very  intelligent  and 
devout  person. 

When  the  proceedings  relating  to  witchcraft  began, 
she  did  not  approve  of  them,  and  expressed  her  want 
of  faith  in  the  “  afflicted  children.”  She  discounte¬ 
nanced  the  whole  affair,  and  would  not  follow  the 
multitude  to  the  examinations ;  but  was  said  to  have 
spoken  freely  of  the  course  of  the  magistrates,  saying 
that  their  eyes  were  blinded,  and  that  she  could 
open  them.  It  seemed  to  her  clear  that  they  were 
violating  common  sense  and  the  Word  of  God,  and 
she  was  confident  that  she  could  convince  them  of 
their  errors.  Instead  of  falling  into  the  delusion, 
she  applied  herself  with  renewed  earnestness  to  keep 
her  own  mind  under  the  influence  of  prayer,  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


39 


spent  more  time  in  devotion  than  ever  before.  Her 
husband,  however,  was  completely  carried  away  by 
the  prevalent  fanaticism,  believed  all  he  heard,  and 
frequented  the  examinations  and  the  exhibitions  of 
the  afflicted  children.  This  disagreement  became 
quite  serious.  Her  preferring  to  stay  at  home,  shun¬ 
ning  the  proceedings,  and  expressing  her  disappro¬ 
bation  of  what  was  going  on,  caused  an  estrangement 
between  them.  Her  peculiar  course  created  com¬ 
ment,  in  which  he  and  two  of  his  sons-in-law  took 
part.  Some  strong  expressions  were  used  by  him, 
because  she  acted  so  strangely  at  variance  with  every¬ 
body  else.  Her  spending  so  much  time  on  her  knees 
in  devotion  was  looked  upon  as  a  matter  of  suspicion. 
It  was  said  that  she  tried  to  prevent  him  from  follow¬ 
ing  up  the  examinations,  and  went  so  far  as  to  remove 
the  saddle  from  the  horse  brought  up  to  convey  him 
to  some  meeting  at  the  village  connected  with  the 
witchcraft  excitement.  Angry  words,  uttered  by  him, 
were  heard  and  repeated.  As  she  was  a  woman  of 
notable  piety,  a  professor  of  religion,  and  a  member 
of  the  church,  it  was  evident  that  her  case,  if  she  were 
proceeded  against,  would  still  more  heighten  the  panic, 
and  convulse  the  public  mind.  It  wonld  give  ground 
for  an  idea  which  the  managers  of  the  affair  desired 
to  circulate,  that  the  Devil  had  succeeded  in  making 
inroads  into  the  very  heart  of  the  church,  and  was 
bringing  into  confederacy  with  him  aged  and  eminent 
church-members,  who,  under  color  of  their  profession, 
threatened  to  extend  his  influence  to  the  overthrow  of 


40 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


all  religion.  It  was,  indeed,  established  in  the  popular 
sentiments,  as  a  sign  and  mark  of  the  Devil’s  coming, 
that  many  professing  godliness  would  join  his  standard. 

For  a  day  or  two,  it  was  whispered  round  that  per¬ 
sons  in  great  repute  for  piety  were  in  the  diabolical 
confederacy,  and  about  to  he  unmasked.  The  name 
of  Martha  Corey,  whose  open  opposition  to  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  had  become  known,  was  passed  among  the 
girls  in  an  under-breath,  and  caught  from  one  to  an¬ 
other  among  those  managing  the  affair.  On  the  12th 
of  March,  Edward  Putnam  and  Ezekiel  Cheever,  having 
heard  Ann  Putnam  declare  that  Goody  Corey  did 
often  appear  to  her,  and  torture  her  by  pinching  and 
otherwise,  thought  it  their  duty  to  go  to  her,  and  see 
what  she  would  say  to  this  complaint ;  “  she  being  in 
church  covenant  witli  us.”  They  mounted  their  hor¬ 
ses  about  “  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,”  and  first  went 
to  the  house  of  Thomas  Putnam  to  see  his  daughter 
Ann,  to  learn  from  her  what  clothes  Goody  Corey  ap¬ 
peared  to  her  in,  in  order  to  judge  whether  she  might 
not  have  been  mistaken  in  the  person.  The  girl  told 
them,  that  Goody  Corey,  knowing  that  they  contem¬ 
plated  making  this  visit,  had  just  appeared  in  spirit 
to  her,  but  had  blinded  her  so  that  she  could  not 
tell  what  clothes  she  wore.  Highly  wrought  upon  by 
the  extraordinary  statement  of  the  girl,  which  they 
received  with  perfect  credulity,  the  two  brethren  re¬ 
mounted,  and  pursued  their  way.  Goody  Corey  had 
heard  that  her  name  had  been  bandied  about  by  the 
accusing  girls  :  she  also  knew  that  it  was  one  of  their 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


41 


arts  to  pretend  to  see  the  clothes  people  were  wearing 
at  the  time  their  spectres  appeared  to  them.  This 
required,  indeed,  no  great  amount  of  necromancy ;  as 
it  is  not  probable  that  there  was  much  variety  in  the 
costume  of  farmer’s  wives,  at  that  time,  while  about 
their  ordinary  domestic  engagements. 

They  found  her  alone  in  her  house.  As  soon  as 
they  commenced  conversation,  “  in  a  smiling  manner 
she  said,  ‘  I  know  what  you  are  come  for  ;  you  are  come 
to  talk  with  me  about  being  a  witch,  but  I  am  none  : 
I  cannot  help  people’s  talking  of  me.  ’  ”  Edward  Put¬ 
nam  acknowledged  that  their  visit  was  in  consequence 
of  complaints  made  against  her  by  the  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren.  She  inquired  whether  they  had  undertaken  to 
describe  the  clothes  she  then  wore.  They  answered 
that  they  had  not,  and  proceeded  to  repeat  what  Ann 
Putnam  had  said  to  them  about  her  blinding  her  so 
that  she  could  not  see  her  clothes.  At  this  she  smiled, 
no  doubt  at  Ann’s  cunning  artifice  to  escape  having  to 
say  what  dress  she  then  had  on.  She  declared  to  the 
two  brethren,  that  “  she  did  not  think  that  there  were 
any  witches.”  After  considerable  talk,  in  which  they 
did  not  get  much  to  further  their  purpose,  they  took 
their  leave.  The  account  of  this  interview,  given  by 
Putnam  and  Cheever,  indicates  that  Martha  Corey 
was  a  sensible,  enlightened,  and  sprightly  woman,  per¬ 
fectly  free  from  the  delusion  of  the  day,  courteous  in 
her  manners  and  bearing,  and  a  Christian,  well 
grounded  in  Scripture. 

The  two  brethren  returned  forthwith  to  Thomas 


42 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Putnam’s  house.  Ann  told  them  that  Goody  Corey 
had  not  troubled  her,  nor  her  spectre  appeared,  in 
their  absence.  She  was  not  inclined  to  afford  them 
an  opportunity  to  apply  the  test  of  the  dress.  Both 
the  women  showed  great  acuteness  and  caution.  As 
Corey  expected  the  visit,  and  had  heard  that  the  girls 
pretended  to  be  able  to  say  what  dress  persons  were 
wearing,  she  probably  had  attired  herself  in  an  un¬ 
usual  way  on  the  occasion,  to  put  them  at  fault,  and 
expose  the  falseness  of  their  claims  to  preternatural 
knowledge;  and  Ann  Putnam  —  her  sagacity  suggest¬ 
ing  the  risk  she  was  running  in  the  matter  of  Corey’s 
dress  —  took  refuge  in  the  pretence  of  blindness.  The 
brethren  were  too  much  under  delusion  to  see  through 
the  sharp  practice  of  both  of  them,  but  considered  the 
fact  of  Corey’s  inquiring  of  them  whether  Ann  de¬ 
scribed  her  dress,  as,  under  the  circumstances,  proof 
positive  against  the  former. 

Wishing  to  make  assurance  doubly  sure,  and  to 
fasten  the  charge  upon  Martha  Corey,  the  managers  of 
the  affair  sent  for  her  to  come  to  the  house  of  Thomas 
Putnam  two  days  after  this  conference.  Edward  Put¬ 
nam  was  present,  and  testified  that  his  niece  Ann, 
immediately  upon  the  entrance  of  Goodwife  Corey, 
experienced  the  most  dreadful  convulsions  and  tor¬ 
tures  and  distinctly  and  positively  declared  that  Corey 
was  the  author  of  her  sufferings.  This  was  regarded 
as  conclusive  evidence ;  and,  on  the  19th  of  March,  a 
warrant  was  issued  for  her  arrest.  She  was  brought 
to  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Ingersoll,  on  Monday  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


43 


21st ;  and  the  following  is'tlie  account  of  her  examina¬ 
tion,  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Parris.  The  proceed¬ 
ings  took  place  in  the  meeting-house  at  the  village. 
They  were  introduced  by  a  prayer  from  the  Rev. 
Nicholas  Noyes.  On  some  of  these  occasions  Mr. 
Hale  and  perhaps  others,  hut  usually  Mr.  Noyes  or 
Mr.  Parris  officiated.  We  may  suppose,  from  what 
we  know  of  their  general  deportment  in  connection 
with  these  scenes,  that  their  performances,  under  the 
cover  of  a  devotional  exercise,  expressed  and  enforced 
a  decided  prejudgment  of  the  case  in  hand  against 
the  prisoners,  and  partook  of  the  character  of  indict¬ 
ments  as  much  as  of  prayers. 

u  The  Examination  of  Martha  Corey . 

“  Mr.  Hathorne  :  You  are  now  in  the  hands  of  author¬ 
ity.  Tell  me,  now,  why  you  hurt  these  persons.  —  I  do  not. 

“  Who  doth? — Pray,  gi-ve  me  leave  to  go  to  prayer. 

“  (This  request  was  made  sundry  times.) 

“  We  do  not  send  for  you  to  go  to  prayer  ;  but  tell  me  why 
you  hurt  these.  —  I  am  an  innocent  person.  I  never  had  to 
do  with  witchcraft  since  I  was  born.  I  am  a  gospel  woman. 

“Do  not  you  see  these  complain  of  you?  —  The  Lord 
open  the  eyes  of  the  magistrates  and  ministers  :  the  Lord 
show  his  power  to  discover  the  guilty. 

“  Tell  us  who  hurts  these  children.  —  I  do  not  know. 

“  If  you  be  guilty  of  this  fact,  do  you  think  you  can  hide 
it  ?  —  The  Lord  knows. 

“Well,  tell  us  what  you  know  of  this  matter.  —  Why, 
I  am  a  gospel  woman  ;  and  do  you  think  I  can  have  to  do 
with  witchcraft  too  ? 

“  IIow  could  you  tell,  then,  that  the  child  was  bid  to  ob- 


44 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


serve  what  clothes  you  wore,  when  some  came  to  speak  with 
you? 

“  (Cheever  interrupted  her,  and  hid  her  not  begin  with  a 
lie  ;  and  so  Edward  Putnam  declared  the  matter.) 

“Mr.  IIathorne  :  Who  told  you  that?  —  He  said  the 
child  said. 

“  Cheever  :  You  speak  falsely. 

“  (Then  Edward  Putnam  read  again.) 

“Mr.  Hathorne  :  Why  did  you  ask  if  the  child  told  what 
clothes  you  wore  ?  —  My  husband  told  me  the  others  told. 

“  Who  told  you  about  the  clothes  ?  Why  did  you  ask 
that  question  ?  —  Because  I  heard  the  children  told  what 
clothes  the  others  wore. 

“  Goodman  Corey,  did  you  tell  her  ? 

“  (The  old  man  denied  that  he  told  her  so.) 

“  Did  you  not  say  your  husband  told  you  so  ? 

“  (No  answer.) 

“  Who  hurts  these  children?  Now  look  upon  them. — 
I  cannot  help  it. 

“  Did  you  not  say  you  would  tell  the  truth  why  you 
asked  that  question?  how  came  you  to  the  knowledge?  — 
I  did  but  ask. 

“  You  dare  thus  to  lie  in  all  this  assembly.  You  are 
now  before  authority.  I  expect  the  truth  :  you  promised  it. 
Speak  now,  and  tell  who  told  you  what  clothes.  —  Nobody. 

“  How  came  you  to  know  that  the  children  would  be 
examined  what  clothes  you  wore  ?  —  Because  I  thought  the 
child  was  wiser  than  anybody  if  she  knew. 

“  Give  an  answer :  you  said  your  husband  told  you. — 
He  told  me  the  children  said  I  afflicted  them. 

“  How  do  you  know  what  they  came  for  ?  Answer  me 
this  truly  :  will  you  say  how  you  came  to  know  what  they 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


45 


came  for  ?  —  I  had  heard  speech  that  the  children  said  I 
troubled  them,  and  I  thought  that  they  might  come  to  ex¬ 
amine. 

“  But  how  did  you  know  it  ?  —  I  thought  they  did. 

“  Did  not  you  say  you  would  tell  the  truth  ?  who  told  you 
what  they  came  for  ?  —  Nobody. 

“  How  did  you  know  ?  —  I  did  think  so. 

“  But  you  said  you  knew  so. 

“  (Children  :  There  is  a  man  whispering  in  her  ear.) 

“  IIatiiokne  continued:  What  did  he  say  to  you?  — 
We  must  not  believe  all  that  these  distracted  children  say. 

“Cannot  you  tell  what  that  man  whispered?  —  I  saw 
nobody. 

“  But  did  not  you  hear  ?  —  No. 

“  (Here  was  extreme  agony  of  all  the  afflicted.) 

“  If  you  expect  mercy  of  God,  you  must  look  for  it  in 
God’s  way,  by  confession.  Do  you  think  to  find  mercy  by 
aggravating  your  sins  ?  — A  true  thing. 

“  Look  for  it,  then,  in  God’s  way.  —  So  I  do. 

“  Give  glory  to  God  and  confess,  then.  —  But  I  cannot 
confess. 

“  Do  not  you  see  how  these  afflicted  do  charge  you  ?  — 
We  must  not  believe  distracted  persons. 

“  Who  do  you  improve  to  hurt  them  ?  —  I  improved  none. 

“  Did  not  you  say  our  eyes  were  blinded,  you  would  open 
them  ?  — Yes,  to  accuse  the  innocent. 

“  (Then  Crosby  gave  in  evidence.) 

“  Why  cannot  the  girl  stand  before  you  ?  —  I  do  not  know. 

“  What  did  you  mean  by  that  ?  —  I  saw  them  fall  down. 

“  It  seems  to  be  an  insulting  speech,  as  if  they  could  not 
stand  before  you.  —  They  cannot  stand  before  others. 

“  But  you  said  they  cannot  stand  before  you.  Tell  me 


46 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


what  was  that  turning  upon  the  spit  by  you  ?  —  You  believe 
the  children  that  are  distracted.  I  saw  no  spit. 

“  Here  are  more  than  two  that  accuse  you  for  witchcraft. 
What  do  you  say  ?  —  I  am  innocent. 

“  (Then  Mr.  Hathorne  read  further  of  Crosby’s  evidence.) 

“  What  did  you  mean  by  that,  —  the  Devil  could  not 
stand  before  you  ? 

“  (She  denied  it.  Three  or  four  sober  witnesses  con¬ 
firmed  it.) 

“  What  can  I  do  ?  Many  rise  up  against  me. 

“  Why,  confess.  —  So  I  would,  if  I  were  guilty. 

“  Here  are  sober  persons.  What  do  you  say  to  them  ? 
You  are  a  gospel  woman  ;  will  you  lie  ? 

“  (Abigail  cried  out,  4  Next  sabbath  is  sacrament-day  ; 
but  she  shall  not  come  there.’) 

“I  do  not  care. 

“  You  charge  these  children  with  distraction  :  it  is  a  note 
of  distraction  when  persons  vary  in  a  minute  ;  but  these  fix 
updn  you.  This  is  not  the  manner  of  distraction. — When 
all  are  against  me,  what  can  I  help  it  ? 

“  Now  tell  me  the  truth,  will  you  ?  Why  did  you  say  that 
the  magistrates’  and  ministers’  eyes  were  blinded,  you 
would  open  them  ? 

“  (She  laughed,  and  denied  it.) 

“  Now  tell  us  how  we  shall  know  who  doth  hurt  these,  if 
you  do  not  ?  —  Can  an  innocent  person  be  guilty  ? 

“  Do  you  deny  these  words  ?  —  Yes. 

44  Tell  us  who  hurts  these.  We  came  to  be  a  terror  to 
evil-doers.  .  You  say  you  would  open  our  eyes,  we  are 
blind.  —  If  you  say  I  am  a  witch. 

“  You  said  you  would  show  us. 

“  (She  denied  it.) 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


47 


“  Why  do  you  not  now  show  us  ?  —  I  cannot  tell :  I  do 
not  know. 

“  What  did  you  strike  the  maid  at  Mr.  Tho.  Putnam’s 
with  ?  —  I  never  struck  her  in  my  life. 

“  There  are  two  that  saw  you  strike  her  with  an  iron  rod. 
—  I  had  no  hand  in  it. 

“  Who  had  ?  Do  you  believe  these  children  are  be¬ 
witched  ?  —  They  may,  for  aught  I  know  :  I  have  no  hand 
in  it. 

“You  say  you  are  no  witch.  Maybe  you  mean  you 
never  covenanted  with  the  Devil.  Did  you  never  deal  with 
any  familiar?  —  No,  never. 

“  W1  lat  bird  was  that  the  children  spoke  of? 

“  (Then  witnesses  spoke  :  What  bird  was  it  ?) 

“  I  know  no  bird. 

“  It  may  be  you  have  engaged  you  will  not  confess  ;  but 
God  knows.  —  So  he  doth. 

“Do  you  believe  you  shall  go  unpunished?  —  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  witchcraft. 

“  Why  was  you  not  willing  your  husband  should  come  to 
the  former  session  here  ?  —  But  he  came,  for  all. 

“Did  not  you  take  the  saddle  off  ?  —  I  did  not  know 
what  it  was  for. 

“  Did  you  not  know  what  it  was  for  ?  —  I  did  not  know 
that  it  would  be  to  any  benefit. 

“  (Somebody  said  that  she  would  not  have  them  help  to 
find  out  witches.) 

“  Did  you  not  say  you  would  open  our  eyes  ?  Why  do 
you  not  ?  —  I  never  thought  of  a  witch. 

“  Is  it  a  laughing  matter  to  see  these  afflicted  persons  ? 

“  (She  denied  it.  Several  prove  it.) 

“Ye  are  all  against  me,  and  I  cannot  help  it. 


48 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Do  not  you  believe  there  are  witches  in  the  country  ? 

—  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any. 

“  Do  not  you  know  that  Tituba  confessed  it?  —  I  did  not 
hear  her  speak. 

“  I  find  you  will  own  nothing  without  several  witnesses, 
and  yet  you  will  deny  for  all. 

“  (It  was  noted,  when  she  hit  her  lip,  several  of  the 
afflicted  were  bitten.  When  she  was  urged  upon  it  that  she 
bit  her  lip,  saith  she,  What  harm  is  there  in  it?) 

“  (Mr.  Noyes  :  I  believe  it  is  apparent  she  practiseth 
witchcraft  in  the  congregation :  there  is  no  need  of  images.) 

“  What  do  you  say  to  all  these  things  that  are  apparent  ? 

—  If  you  will  all  go  hang  me,  how  can  I  help  it  ? 

“  Were  you  to  serve  the  Devil  ten  years  ?  Tell  how  many. 

“  (She  laughed.  The  children  cried  there  was  a  yellow- 
bird  with  her.  When  Mr.  Ilathorne  asked  her  about  it,  she 
laughed.  When  her  hands  were  at  liberty,  the  afflicted  per¬ 
sons  were  pinched.) 

u  Why  do  not  you  tell  how  the  Devil  comes  in  your  shape, 
and  hurts  these?  You  said  you  would.  —  Plow  can  I  know 
how  ? 

“  Why  did  you  sny  you  would  show  us  ? 

“  (She  laughed  again.) 

“  What  book  is  that  you  would  have  these  children  write 
in  ?  —  What  book  ?  Where  should  I  have  a  book  ?  I  showed 
them  none,  nor  have  none,  nor  brought  none. 

“  (The  afflicted  cried  out  there  was  a  man  whispering  in 
her  ears.) 

“  What  book  did  you  carry  to  Mary  Walcot  ?  —  I  carried 
none.  If  the  Devil  appears  in  my  shape  — 

“  (Then  Needham  said  that  Parker,  some  time  ago, 
thought  this  woman  was  a  witch.) 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


49 


“  Who  is  your  God  ?  —  The  God  that  made  me. 

“  What  is  his  name  ?  —  Jehovah. 

“  Do  you  know  any  other  name?  —  God  Almighty. 

“  Doth  he  tell  you,  that  you  pray  to,  that  he  is  God  Al¬ 
mighty  ?  —  Who  do  I  worship  but  the  God  that  made 
[me]  ? 

“  How  many  gods  are  there  ?  —  One. 

“  How  many  persons  ?  —  Three. 

“  Cannot  you  say,  So  there  is  one  God  in  three  blessed 
persons  ? 

[The  answer  is  destroyed,  being  written  in  the  fold  of  the 
paper,  and  wholly  worn  off.] 

“  Do  not  you  see  these  children  and  women  are  rational 
and  sober  as  their  neighbors,  when  your  hands  are  fas¬ 
tened  ? 

“  (Immediately  they  were  seized  with  fits :  and  the 
standers-by  said  she  was  squeezing  her  fingers,  her  hands 
being  eased  by  them  that  held  them  on  purpose  for 
trial. 

“  Quickly  after,  the  marshal  said,  ‘  She  hath  bit  her  lip  ;  ’ 
and  immediately  the  afflicted  were  in  an  uproar.) 

“  [Tell]  why  you  hurt  these,  or  who  doth  ? 

“  (She  denieth  any  hand  in  it.) 

“  Why  did  you  say,  if  you  were  a  witch,  you  should  have 
no  pardon?  —  Because  I  am  a  woman.” 

“Salem  Village,  March  the  21st,  1692.  —  The  Rev¬ 
erend  Mr.  Samuel  Parris,  being  desired  to  take,  in  writing, 
the  examination  of  Martha  Corey,  hath  returned  it,  as  afore¬ 
said. 

“  Upon  hearing  the  aforesaid,  and  seeing  what  we  did 
then  see,  together  with  the  charges  of  the  persons  then  pres- 

4 


VOL.  II. 


50 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ent,  we  committed  Martha  Corey,  the  wife  of  Giles  Corey, 
of  Salem  Farms,  unto  the  gaol  in  Salem,  as  per  mittimus 
then  given  out. 


The  foregoing  is  a  full  copy  of  the  original  docu¬ 
ment.  One  of  Giles  Corey’s  daughters,  Deliverance, 
had  married,  June  5,  1683,  Henry  Crosby,  who  lived 
on  land  conveyed  to  him  by  her  father  in  the  imme¬ 
diate  neighborhood.  He  was  the  person  whose  written 
testimony  was  read  by  the  magistrate.  Its  purport 
seems  to  have  been  to  prove  that  Martha  Corey  had  said 
that  the  accusing  girls  could  not  stand  before  her,  and 
that  the  Devil  could  not  stand  before  her.  She  had, 
undoubtedly,  great  confidence  in  her  own  innocence, 
and  in  the  power  of  truth  and  prayer,  to  silence  false 
accusers,  and  expressed  herself  in  the  forcible  language 
which  Parris’s  report  of  the  examination  shows  that 
she  was  well  able  to  use.  It  is  almost  amusing  to  see 
how  the  pride  of  the  magistrates  was  touched,  and 
their  wrath  kindled,  by  what  she  was  reported  to  have 
said,  “  that  the  magistrates’  and  ministers’  eyes  were 
blinded,  and  that  she  would  open  them.”  It  rankled 
in  Hathorne’s  breast :  he  returns  to  it  again  and 
again,  and  works  himself  up  to  a  higher  degree  of 
resentment  on  each  recurrence.  Mr.  Noyes’s  ire  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


51 


roused,  and  he,  too,  put  in  a  stroke.  It  will  be  noticed, 
that  she  avoided  a  contradiction  of  her  husband,  and 
could  not  be  brought  to  give  the  names  of  persons  from 
whom  she  had  received  information.  “  If  you  will  all 
go  hang  me,  bow  can  I  help  it  ?  ”  “Ye  are  all  against 
me.”  “  What  can  I  do,  when  many  rise  up  against 
me  ?  ”  “  When  all  are  against  me,  what  can  I  [say 

to]  help  it  ?  ”  Situated  as  she  was,  all  that  she  could 
do  was  to  give  them  no  advantage,  or  opportunity  to 
ensnare  her,  and  to  avoid  compromising  others ;  and 
it  must  be  allowed  that  she  showed  much  presence 
and  firmness  of  mind.  Her  request,  made  at  the 
opening  of  the  examination,  and  at  “  sundry  times,” 
to  “  go  to  prayer,”  somewhat  confounded  them.  She 
probably  was  led  to  make  and  urge  the  request  par¬ 
ticularly  in  consequence  of  the  tenor  of  Mr.  Noyes’s 
prayer  at  the  opening.  She  felt  that  it  was  no  more 
than  fair  that  there  should  be  a  prayer  on  her  side,  as 
well  as  on  the  other.  It  might  well  be  feared,  that,  if 
allowed  to  offer  a  prayer,  coming  from  a  person  in  her 
situation,  an  aged  professor,  and  one  accustomed  to  ex¬ 
press  herself  in  devotional  exercises,  it  might  produce 
a  deep  impression  upon  the  whole  assembly.  To  re¬ 
fuse  such  a  request  had  a  hard  look  ;  but,  as  the  magis¬ 
trates  saw,  it  never  would  have  done  to  have  permitted 
it.  It  would  have  reversed  the  position  of  all  con¬ 
cerned.  The  latter  part  of  the  examination  has  the 
appearance  that  she  was  suspected  to  be  unsound  on  a 
particular  article  of  the  prevalent  creed.  It  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  the  abrasion  of  the  paper  at  the 


52 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


folding  lias  obliterated  her  last  answer  to  this  part  ol 
the  inquisition.  It  is  singular  that  Mr.  Parris  lias  left 
the  blank  in  her  final  answer.  Probably  she  used  her 
customary  expression,  “  I  am  a  gospel  woman.”  The 
writing,  at  this  point,  is  very  clear  and  distinct ;  and  a 
vacant  space  is  left,  just  as  it  is  given  above. 

The  fact  that  Martha  Corey  was  known  to  be  an 
eminently  religious  person,  and  very  much  given  to 
acts  of  devotion,  constituted  a  serious  obstacle,  no 
doubt,  in  the  way  of  the  prosecutors.  Parris’s  record 
of  the  examination  shows  how  they  managed  to  get 
over  it.  They  gave  the  impression  that  her  frequent 
and  long  prayers  were  addressed  to  the  Devil. 

The  disagreement  between  her  and  her  husband, 
touching  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  brought  him  into 
a  very  uncomfortable  predicament.  With  his  charac¬ 
teristic  imprudence  of  speech,  he  had  probably  ex¬ 
pressed  himself  strongly  against  her  unbelief  in  the 
sufferings  of  the  girls  and  her  refusal  to  attend 
the  exhibitions  of  their  tortures,  or  the  examination 
of  persons  accused.  He  was,  unquestionably,  highly 
shocked  and  incensed  at  her  open  repudiation  of  the 
whole  doctrine  of  witchcraft.  Although  he  had  be¬ 
come,  in  his  old  age,  a  professor  and  a  fervently  reli¬ 
gious  man,  perhaps  he  fell  back,  in  his  resentment  of 
her  course,  into  his  life-long  rough  phrases,  and  said 
that  she  acted  as  though  the  Devil  was  in  her.  He 
might  have  said  that  she  prayed  like  a  witch.  Being 
entirely  carried  away  by  the  delusion,  he  had  his  own 
marvellous  stories  to  tell  about  his  cattle’s  being  be- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


53 


witched,  Ac.  His  talk,  undoubtedly,  came  to  the 
ears  of  the  prosecutors  ;  and  they  seem  to  have  taken 
steps  to  induce  him  to  come  forward  as  a  witness 
against  her.  The  following  document  is  among  the 
papers :  — 

“  The  evidence  of  Giles  Corey  testifieth  and  saith,  that 
last  Saturday,  in  the  evening,  sitting  by  the  fire,  my  wife 
asked  me  to  go  to  bed.  I  told  her  I  would  go  to  prayer  ; 
and,  when  I  went  to  prayer,  I  could  not  utter  my  desires 
with  any  sense,  nor  open  my  mouth  to  speak. 

“  My  wife  did  perceive  it,  and  came  towards  me,  and  said 
she  was  coming  to  me. 

“  After  this,  in  a  little  space,  I  did,  according  to  my 
measure,  attend  the  duty. 

“  Some  time  last  week,  I  fetched  an  ox,  well,  out  of  the 
woods  about  noon  :  and,  he  laying  down  in  the  yard,  I  went 
to  raise  him  to  yoke  him  ;  but  he  could  not  rise,  but  dragged 
his  hinder  parts,  as  if  he  had  been  hip-shot.  But  after  did 
rise. 

“  I  had  a  cat  sometimes  last  week  strangely  taken  on  the 
sudden,  and  did  make  me  think  she  would  have  died  pres¬ 
ently.  My  wife  bid  me  knock  her  in  the  head,  but  I  did 
not ;  and  since,  she  is  well. 

“  Another  time,  going  to  duties,  I  was  interrupted  for  a 
space  ;  but  afterward  I  was  helped  according  to  my  poor 
measure.  My  wife  hath  been  wont  to  sit  up  after  I  went  to 
bed  ;  and  I  have  perceived  her  to  kneel  down  on  the  hearth, 
as  if  she  were  at  prayer,  but  heard  nothing. 

“  At  the  examination  of  Sarah  Good  and  others,  my 
wife  was  willing 
“  March  24,  1692.” 


54 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  foregoing  document  does  not  express  the  idea 
that  lie  thought  his  wife  was  a  witch.  He  states  what 
he  observed,  and  what  happened  to  him  and  to  his 
cattle.  He  evidently  supposed  they  were  bewitched, 
and  that  he  was  obstructed,  in  going  to  prayer,  in  a 
strange  manner ;  but  he  does  not,  in  terms,  charge  it 
upon  her.  It  gives  an  interesting  insight  of  the  inner¬ 
most  domestic  life  of  the  period,  in  a  farmhouse,  and 
exhibits  striking  touches  of  the  character  and  ways  of 
these  two  old  people.  It  illustrates  the  state  of  the 
imagination  prevailing  among  those  who  were  carried 
away  by  the  delusion.  If  an  ox  had  a  sprained  muscle, 
or  a  cat  a  fit  of  indigestion,  it  was  thought  to  be  the 
work  of  an  evil  hand.  Poor  old  Giles  had  come  late  to 
a  religious  life,  and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  was  a  novice  in 
prayer.  It  is  no  wonder  that  he  was  not  an  adept  in 
“  uttering  his  desires,”  and  experienced  occasionally 
some  difficulty  in  arranging  and  expressing  his  de¬ 
votional  sentiments. 

There  is  something  very  singular  in  the  appearance 
of  the  foregoing  deposition.  Purporting  to  be  a  piece 
of  testimony,  it  was  not  given  in  the  usual  and  reg¬ 
ular  way.  It  does  not  indicate  before  whom  it  was 
made.  It  is  not  attested  in  the  ordinary  manner ; 
apparently,  was  not  sworn  to  in  the  presence  of  per¬ 
sons  authorized  to  act  in  such  cases  ;  was  never  offered 
in  court  or  anywhere.  It  is  a  disconnected  paper 
found  among  the  remnants  of  the  miscellaneous  col¬ 
lection  in  the  clerk’s  office,  and  is  evidently  an  un¬ 
finished  document ;  the  words  in  Italics,  at  the  close, 
being  erased  by  a  line  running  through  them. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


55 


It  is  probable  that  the  parties  who  tried  to  get  the 
old  man  to  testify  against  his  wife  discovered  that 
they  could  not  draw  any  thing  from  him  to  answer 
their  designs,  but  that  there  was  danger  that  his  evi¬ 
dence  would  be  favorable  to  her,  and  gave  up  the  at¬ 
tempt  to  use  him  on  the  occasion.  The  fact  that  he 
would  not  lend  himself  to  their  purposes  perhaps  led 
to  resentment  on  their  part,  which  may  explain  the 
subsequent  proceedings  against  him. 

The  document,  in  its  chirography,  suggests  the  idea 
that  it  was  written  by  Mr.  Noyes,  which  is  not  improb¬ 
able,  as  Corey  was  a  member  of  his  congregation  and 
church.  Noyes  was  deeply  implicated  in  the  prosecu¬ 
tions,  and  violent  in  driving  them  on.  The  hand¬ 
writing  of  the  original  papers  reveals  the  agency  of 
those  who  were  the  most  busy  in  procuring  evidence 
against  persons  accused.  That  of  Thomas  Putnam 
occurs  in  very  many  instances.  But  Mr.  Parris  was, 
beyond  all  others,  the  busiest  and  most  active  prosecu¬ 
tor.  The  depositions  of  the  child  Abigail  Williams, 
his  niece  and  a  member  of  his  family,  were  written  by 
him,  as  also  a  great  number  of  others.  He  took  down 
most  of  the  examinations,  put  in  a  deposition  of  his 
own  whenever  he  could,  and  was  always  ready  to  in¬ 
dorse  those  of  others. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that,  when  Tituba  was  put 
through  her  examination,  she  said  “  four  women 
sometimes  hurt  the  children.”  She  named  Good  and 
Osburn,  but  pretended  to  have  been  blinded  as  to 
the  others.  Martha  Corey  was,  in  due  time,  as  we 


56 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


have  seen, brought  out.  The  fourth  was  the  venerable 
head  of  a  large  and  prominent  family,  and  a  member 
of  the  mother-church  in  Salem.  She  had  never  trans¬ 
ferred  her  relations  to  the  village  church,  with  which, 
however,  she  had  generally  worshipped,  and  probably 
communed.  Being  one  of  the  chief  matrons  of  the 
place,  she  was  seated  in  the  meeting-house  with  ladies 
of  similar  age  and  standing,  occupying  the  same  bench 
or  compartment  with  the  widow  of  Thomas  Putnam, 
Sr.  The  women  were  seated  separately  from  the 
men  ;  and  the  only  rule  applied  among  them  was  emi¬ 
nence  in  years  and  respectability. 

It  has  always  been  considered  strange  and  unac¬ 
countable,  that  a  person  of  such  acknowledged  worth 
as  Rebecca  Nurse,  of  infirm  health  and  advanced 
years,  should  have  been  selected  among  the  early  vic¬ 
tims  of  the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  Jealousies  and 
prejudices,  such  as  often  infest  rural  neighborhoods, 
may  have  been  engendered,  in  minds  open  to  such 
influences,  by  the  prosperity  and  growing  influence  of 
her  family.  It  may  be  that  animosities  kindled  by  the 
long  and  violent  land  controversy,  with  which  many 
parties  had  been  incidentally  connected,  lingered  in 
some  breasts.  There  are  decided  indications,  that  the 

passions  awakened  by  the  angry  contest  between  the 

* 

village  and  “  Topsfield  men,”  and  which  the  collisions 
of  a  half-century  had  all  along  exasperated  and  hard¬ 
ened,  may  have  been  concentrated  against  the  Nurses. 
Isaac  Easty,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Rebecca  Nurse, 
and  the  Townes,  who  were  her  brothers  or  near  kins- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


57 


men,  were  the  leaders  of  the  Topsfield  men.  It  is  a 
significant  circumstance,  in  this  connection,  that  to 
one  of  the  most  vehement  resolutions  passed  at  meet¬ 
ings  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village,  against  the 
claims  of  Topsfield,  Samuel  Nurse,  her  eldest  son, 
and  Thomas  Preston,  her  eldest  son-in-law,  entered 
their  protest  on  the  record ;  and,  on  another  similar 
occasion,  her  husband  Francis  Nurse,  her  son  Samuel, 
and  two  of  her  sons-in-law,  Preston  and  Tarbell,  took 
the  same  course.  So  far  as  the  family  sided  with 
Topsfield  in  that  controversy,  it  naturally  exposed 
them  to  the  ill-will  of  the  people  of  the  village.  An 
analysis  of  the  names  and  residences  of  the  persons 
proceeded  against,  throughout  the  prosecutions,  will 
show  to  what  an  extent  hostile  motives  were  supplied 
from  this  quarter.  The  families  of  Wildes,  How, 
Hobbs,  Towne,  Easty,  and  others  who  were  “  cried 
out”  upon  by  the  afflicted  children,  occupied  lands 
claimed  by  parties  adverse  to  the  village.  What, 
more  than  all  these  causes,  was  sufficient  to  create  a 
feeling  against  the  Nurses,  is  the  fact  that  they  were 
opposed  to  the  party  which  had  existed  from  the  begin¬ 
ning  in  the  parish  composed  originally  of  the  friends 
of  Bayley.  To  crown  the  whole,  when  the  excitement 
occasioned  by  the  extraordinary  doings  in  Mr.  Parris’s 
family  began  to  display  itself,  and  the  “  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren  ”  were  brought  into  notice,  the  members  of  this 
family,  with  the  exception,  for  a  time,  of  Thomas  Pres¬ 
ton,  discountenanced  the  whole  thing.  They  absented 
themselves  from  meeting,  on  account  of  the  disturb- 


58 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ances  and  disorders  the  girls  were  allowed  to  make 
during  the  services  of  worship,  in  the  congregation, 
on  the  Lord’s  Day.  Unfriendly  remarks,  from  what¬ 
ever  cause,  made  in  the  hearing  of  the  girls,  provided 
subjects  for  them  to  act  upon.  Some  persons  behind 
them,  suggesting  names  in  this  way,  whether  careless¬ 
ly  or  with  malicious  intent,  were  guilty  of  all  the 
misery  that  was  created  and  blood  that  was  shed. 

It  became  a  topic  of  rumor,  that  Rebecca  Nurse  was 
soon  to  be  brought  out.  It  reached  the  ears  of  her 
friends,  and  the  following  document  comes  in  at  this 
point :  — 

“  We  whose  names  are  underwritten  being  desired  to  go 
to  Goodman  Nurse  his  house,  to  speak  with  his  wife,  and  to 
tell  her  that  several  of  the  afflicted  persons  mentioned  her ; 
and  accordingly  we  went,  and  we  found  her  in  a  weak  and 
low  condition  in  body  as  she  told  us,  and  had  been  sick 
almost  a  week.  And  we  asked  how  it  wras  otherwise  with 
her:  and  she  said  she  blessed  God  for  it,  she  had  more  of 
his  presence  in  this  sickness  than  sometime  she  have  had,  but 
not  so  much  as  she  desired  ;  but  she  would,  with  the  apostle, 
press  forward  to  the  mark  ;  and  many  other  places  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  to  the  like  purpose.  And  then,  of  her  own  accord,  she 
began  to  speak  of  the  affliction  that  was  amongst  them,  and 
in  particular  of  Mr.  Parris  his  family,  and  how  she  was 
grieved  for  them,  though  she  had  not  been  to  see  them,  by 
reason  of  fits  that  she  formerly  used  to  have  ;  for  people 
said  it  was  awful  to  behold :  but  she  pitied  them  with  all 
her  heart,  and  went  to  God  for  them.  But  she  said  she 
heard  that  there  was  persons  spoke  of  that  were  as  innocent 
as  she  was,  she  believed  ;  and,  after  much  to  this  purpose, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


59 


we  told  her  we  heard  that  she  was  spoken  of  also.  ‘  Well,’  she 
said,  ‘  if  it  be  so,  the  will  of  the  Lord  be  done :  ’  she  sat  still 
a  while,  being  as  it  were  amazed  ;  and  then  she  said,  ‘  Well, 
as  to  this  thing  I  am  as  innocent  as  the  child  unborn  ;  but 
surely,’  she  said,  ‘  what  sin  hath  God  found  out  in  me  unre¬ 
pented  of,  that  he  should  lay  such  an  affliction  upon  me  in 
my  old  age?’  and,  according  to  our  best  observation,  we 
could  not  discern  that  she  knew  what  we  came  for  before 
we  told  her.  Israel  Porter, 

Elizabeth  Porter. 

“  To  the  substance  of  what  is  above,  we,  if  called  thereto, 
are  ready  to  testify  on  oath.  Daniel  Andrew, 

Peter  Cloyse.” 

Elizabeth  Porter,  who  joins  her  husband  in  making 
this  statement,  was  a  sister  of  John  Hathorne,  the 
examining  magistrate,  and  the  mother-in-law  of  Joseph 
Putnam,  who  was  among  the  very  few  that  condemned 
the  proceedings  from  the  first.  She  stood,  therefore, 
between  the  two  parties.  The  character  of  each  of 
the  signers  and  indorsers  of  this  interesting  paper 
is  sufficient  proof  that  its  statements  are  truthful.  It 
cannot  but  excite  the  most  affecting  sensibilities  in 
every  breast.  This  venerable  lady,  whose  conversa¬ 
tion  and  bearing  were  so  truly  saint-like,  was  an  in¬ 
valid  of  extremely  delicate  condition  and  appearance, 
the  mother  of  a  large  family,  embracing  sons,  daugh¬ 
ters,  grandchildren,  and  one  or  more  great-grand¬ 
children.  She  was  a  woman  of  piety,  and  simplicity 
of  heart.  In  all  probability,  she  shared  in  the 
popular  belief  on  the  subject  of  witchcraft,  and  sup- 


60 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


posed  that  the  sufferings  of  the  children  were  real, 
and  that  they  were  afflicted  by  an  “  evil  hand.”  At  the 
very  time  that  she  was  sorrowfully  sympathizing  with 
them  and  Mr.  Parris’s  family,  and  praying  for  them, 
they  were  circulating  suspicions  against  her,  and 
maturing  their  plans  for  her  destruction. 

Rebecca  Nurse  was  a  daughter  of  William  Towne, 
of  Yarmouth,  Norfolk  County,  England,  where  she 
was  baptized,  Feb.  21,  1621.  Her  sister  Mary,  who 
married  Isaac  Easty,  was  baptized  at  the  same  place, 
Aug.  24,  1684.  The  records  of  the  First  Church  at 
Salem,  Sept.  3, 1648,  give  the  baptism  of  “  Joseph  and 
Sarah,  children  of  Sister  Towne.”  Sarah  was  at  that 
time  seven  years  of  age.  She  became  the  wife  of 
Edmund  Bridges,  and  afterwards  of  Peter  Cloyse. 

On  the  23d  of  March,  a  warrant  was  issued,  on  com¬ 
plaint  of  Edward  Putnam,  and  Jonathan,  son  of  John 
Putnam,  for  the  arrest  of  “  Rebecca,  wife  of  Fran¬ 
cis  Nurse  ;  ”  and  the  next  morning,  at  eight  o’clock, 
she  was  brought  to  the  house  of  Nathaniel  Inger- 
soll,  in  the  custody  of  George  Herrick,  the  marshal  of 
Essex.  There  were  several  distinct  indictments,  four 
of  which,  for  having  practised  “  certain  detestable  arts 
called  witchcraft  ”  upon  Ann  Putnam,  Mary  Walcot, 
Elizabeth  Hubbard,  and  Abigail  Williams,  are  pre¬ 
served.  The  examination  took  place  forthwith  at  the 
meeting-house.  The  age,  character,  connections,  and 
appearance  of  the  prisoner,  made  the  occasion  one  of 
the  extremest  interest.  Hathorne,  the  magistrate,  be¬ 
gan  the  proceedings  by  addressing  one  of  the  afflicted  : 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


G1 


“  What  do  you  say  ?  Have  you  seen  this  woman  hurt 
you  ?  ”  The  answer  was,  “  Yes,  she  beat  me  this 
morning.”  Hathorne,  addressing  another  of  the  af¬ 
flicted,  said,  “  Abigail,  liave  you  been  hurt  by  this 
woman?”  Abigail  answered,  “Yes.”  At  that  point, 
Ann  Putnam  fell  into  a  grievous  fit,  and,  while  in 
her  spasms,  cried  out  that  it  was  Rebecca  Nurse  who 
was  thus  afflicting  her.  As  soon  as  Ann’s  fit  was  over, 
and  order  restored,  Hathorne  said,  “  Goody  Nurse, 
here  are  two,  Ann  Putnam  the  child,  and  Abigail 
Williams,  complain  of  your  hurting  them.  What  do 
you  say  to  it?”  The  prisoner  replied,  “I  can  say, 
before  my  eternal  Father,  I  am  innocent,  and  God  will 
clear  my  innocency.”  Hathorne,  apparently  touched 
for  the  moment  by  her  language  and  bearing,  said, 
“  Here  is  never  a  one  in  the  assembly  but  desires  it ; 
but,  if  you  be  guilty,  pray  God  discover  you.”  Henry 
Kenney  rose  up  from  the  body  of  the  assembly  to 
speak.  Hathorne  permitted  the  interruption,  and  said, 
“  Goodman  Kenney,  what  do  you  say  ?  ”  Then  Ken¬ 
ney  complained  of  the  prisoner,  u  and  further  said, 
since  this  Nurse  came  into  the  house,  he  was  seized 
twice  with  an  amazed  condition.”  Hathorne,  address¬ 
ing  the  prisoner,  said,  “  Not  only  these,  but  the  wife  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Putnam,  accuseth  you  by  credible  infor¬ 
mation,  and  that  both  of  tempting  her  to  iniquity  and 
of  greatly  hurting  her.”  The  prisoner  again  affirmed 
her  innocence,  and  said,  in  answer  to  the  charge  of 
having  hurt  these  persons,  that  “  she  had  not  been 
able  to  get  out  of  doors  these  eight  or  nine  days.” 


62 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Hatliorne  then  called  upon  Edward  Putnam,  who,  as 
the  record  says,  “  gave  in  his  relate,”  which  undoubt¬ 
edly  was  a  statement  of  his  having  seen  the  afflicted 
in  their  sufferings,  and  heard  them  accuse  Rebecca 
Nurse  as  their  tormentor.  Hatliorne  said,  “  Is  this 
true,  Goody  Nurse?”  She  denied  that  she  had  ever 
hurt  them  or  any  one  else  in  her  life.  Hatliorne 
repeated,  “  You  see  these  accuse  you :  is  it  true  ?  ” 
She  answered,  “No.”  He  again  put  the  question, 
“  Are  you  an  innocent  person  relating  to  this  witch¬ 
craft  ?  ”  It  seems,  from  his  manner,  that  he  was  be¬ 
ginning  really  to  doubt  whether  she  might  not  be 
innocent ;  and  perhaps  the  feeling  of  the  multitude 
was  yielding  in  her  favor. 

Here  Thomas  Putnam’s  wife  cried  out,  “  Did  you  not 
bring  the  black  man  with  you  ?  Did  you  not  bid  me 
tempt  God,  and  die?  How  oft  have  you  eat  and 
drank  your  own  damnation  ?  ”  This  sudden  outbreak, 
from  such  a  source,  accompanied  with  the  wild  and 
apparently  supernatural  energy  and  uncontrollable  ve¬ 
hemence  with  which  the  words  were  uttered,  roused 
the  multitude  to  the  utmost  pitch  of  horror ;  and  the 
prisoner  seems  to  have  been  shocked  at  the  dreadful 
exhibition  of  madness  in  the  woman  and  in  the  assem¬ 
bly.  Releasing  her  hands  from  confinement,  she  spread 
them  out  towards  heaven,  and  exclaimed,  “  0  Lord, 
help  me !  ”  Instantly,  the  whole  company  of  the 
afflicted  children  “  were  grievously  vexed.”  After  a 
while,  the  tumult  subsided,  and  Hatliorne  again  ad¬ 
dressed  her,  “  Do  you  not  see  what  a  solemn  condition 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


63 


these  are  in  ?  When  your  hands  are  loosed,  the  per¬ 
sons  are  afflicted.”  Then  Mary  Walcot  and  Elizabeth 
Hubbard  came  forward,  and  accused  her.  Hatliorne 
again  addressed  her,  “  Here  are  these  two  grown  per¬ 
sons  now  accuse.  What  say  you  ?  Do  not  you  see  these 
afflicted  persons,  and  hear  them  accuse  you  ?  ”  She 
answered,  “  The  Lord  knows  I  have  not  hurt  them. 
I  am  an  innocent  person.”  Hatliorne  continued,  “  It 
is  very  awful  to  all  to  see  these  agonies,  and  you,  an 
old  professor,  thus  charged  with  contracting  with  the 
Devil  by  the  effects  of  it,  and  yet  to  see  you  stand  with 
dry  eyes  where  there  are  so  many  wet.”  She  an¬ 
swered,  “  You  do  not  know  my  heart.”  Hatliorne, 
“  You  would  do  well,  if  you  are  guilty,  to  confess,  and 
give  glory  to  God.”  —  “I  am  as  clear  as  the  child 
unborn.”  Hatliorne  continued,  “  What  uncertainty 
there  may  be  in  apparitions,  I  know  not :  yet  this  with 
me  strikes  hard  upon  you,  that  you  are,  at  this  very 
present,  charged  with  familiar  spirits,  —  this  is  your 
bodily  person  they  speak  to ;  they  say  now  they  see 
these  familiar  spirits  come  to  your  bodily  person. 
Now,  what  do  you  say  to  that?”  —  “I  have  none, 
sir.”  —  “  If  you  have,  confess,  and  give  glory  to  God. 
I  pray  God  clear  you,  if  you  be  innocent,  and,  if  you 
are  guilty,  discover  you  ;  and  therefore  give  me  an 
upright  answer.  Have  you  any  familiarity  with  these 
spirits  ?  ”  —  “  No  :  I  have  none  but  with  God  alone.” 
It  looks  as  if  again  the  magistrate  began  to  open 
his  mind  to  a  fair  view  of  the  case.  He  seems  to 
have  sought  satisfaction  in  reference  to  all  the  charges 


64 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


that  had  been  made  against  her.  She  was  suffering 
from  infirmities  of  body,  the  result  not  only  of  age,  but 
of  the  burdens  of  life  often  pressing  down  the  physical 
frame,  particularly  of  those  who  have  borne  large  fami¬ 
lies  of  children.  The  magistrate  had  heard  some 
malignant  gossip  of  this  kind,  and  he  asked,  “  Plow 
came  you  sick  ?  for  there  is  an  odd  discourse  of  that  in 
the  mouths  of  many.”  She  replied  that  she  suffered 
from  weakness  of  stomach.  He  inquired,  more  spe- 
cifially,  “  Have  you  no  wounds  ?  ”  Her  answer  was, 
that  her  ailments  and  weaknesses,  all  her  bodily  infirmi¬ 
ties,  were  the  natural  effects  of  what  she  had  expe¬ 
rienced  in  a  long  life.  “  I  have  none  but  old  age.”  — 
“  You  do  know  whether  you  are  guilty,  and  have 
familiarity  with  the  Devil ;  and  now,  when  you  are 
here  present,  to  see  such  a  thing  as  these  testify, —  a 
black  man  whispering  in  your  ear,  and  birds  about 
you,  —  what  do  you  say  to  it  ?  ”  —  “  It  is  all  false  :  I 
am  clear.”  —  “  Possibly,  you  may  apprehend  you  are 
no  witch ;  but  have  you  not  been  led  aside  by  tempta¬ 
tions  that  way  ?  ”  —  “I  have  not.”  At  this  point,  it 
almost  seems  that  Hathorne  was  yielding  to  the  moral 
effect  of  the  evidence  she  bore  in  her  deportment  and 
language,  the  impress  of  conscious  innocence  in  her 
countenance,  and  the  manifestation  of  true  Christian 
purity  and  integrity  in  her  whole  manner  and  bearing. 
Instead  of  pressing  her  with  further  interrogatories, 
he  gave  way  to  an  expression,  in  the  form  of  a  solilo¬ 
quy  or  ejaculation,  “  What  a  sad  thing  is  it,  that  a 
church-member  here,  and  now  another  of  Salem, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


65 


should  thus  he  accused  and  charged!”  Upon  hear¬ 
ing  this  rather  ambiguous  expression  of  the  magis¬ 
trate,  Mrs.  Pope  fell  into  a  grievous  fit. 

Mrs.  Pope  was  the  wife  of  Joseph  Pope,  living  with 
his  mother,  the  widow  Gertrude  Pope,  on  the  farm 
shown  on  the  map.  She  had  followed  up  the  meet¬ 
ings  of  the  circle,  been  a  constant  witness  of  the 
sufferings  of  the  “  afflicted  children,”  and  attended 
all  the  public  examinations,  until  her  nervous  sys¬ 
tem  was  excited  beyond  restraint,  and  for  a  while 
she  went  into  fits  and  her  imagination  was  bewil¬ 
dered.  She  acted  with  the  accusers,  and  participated 
in  their  sufferings.  On  some  occasions,  her  conduct 
was  wild  and  extravagant  to  the  highest  degree.  At 
the  examination  of  Martha  Corey,  she  was  conspicuous 
for  the  violence  of  her  actions.  In  the  midst  of  the 
proceedings,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  magistrates 
and  hundreds  of  people,  she  threw  her  muff  at  the 
prisoner ;  and,  that  missing,  pulled  off  her  shoe,  and, 
more  successful  this  time,  hit  her  square  on  the  head. 
Hers  seems,  however,  to  have  been  a  case  of  mere 
delusion,  amounting  to  temporary  insanity.  That  it 
was  not  deliberate  and  cold-blooded  imposture  is  ren¬ 
dered  probable  by  the  fact,  that  she  was  rescued  from 
the  hallucination,  and,  with  her  husband,  among  the 
foremost  to  deplore  and  denounce  the  whole  affair. 
But,  when  a  woman  of  her  position  acted  in  this  man¬ 
ner,  on  such  an  occasion,  and  then  went  into  convul¬ 
sions,  and  the  whole  company  of  afflicted  persons 
joined  in,  the  confusion,  tumult,  and  frightfulness  of 

6 


VOL.  II. 


66 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  scene  can  hardly  he  imagined,  certainly  it  cannot 
be  described  in  words. 

Quiet  being  restored,  Hathorne  proceeded:  “Tell 
us,  have  you  not  had  visible  appearances,  more  than 
what  is  common  in  nature?”  —  “I  have  none,  nor 
never  had  in  my  life.”  —  “  Do  you  think  these  suffer 
voluntary  or  involuntary  ?  ”  —  “I  cannot  tell.”  —  “  That 
is  strange :  every  one  can  judge.”  —  “I  must  be  si¬ 
lent.” —  “They  accuse  you  of  hurting  them;  and,  if 
you  think  it  is  not  unwillingly,  but  by  design,  you 
must  look  upon  them  as  murderers.”  —  “  I  cannot  tell 
what  to  think  of  it.”  This  answer  was  considered  as 
very  aspersive  in  its  bearing  upon  the  witnesses,  and 
she  was  charged  with  having  called  them  murderers. 
Being  hard  of  hearing,  she  did  not  always  take  in  the 
whole  import  of  questions  put  to  her.  She  denied 
that  she  said  she  thought  them  murderers ;  all  she 
said,  and  that  she  stood  to  to  the  last,  was  that 
she  could  not  tell  what  to  make  of  their  conduct. 
Finally,  Hathorne  put  this  question,  and  called  for  an 
answer,  “  Do  you  think  these  suffer  against  their  wills 
or  not  ?  ”  She  answered,  “  I  do  not  think  these  suffer 
against  their  wills.”  To  this  point  she  was  not  afraid 
or  unwilling  to  go,  in  giving  an  opinion  of  the  con¬ 
duct  of  the  accusing  girls.  Infirm,  half  deaf,  cross- 
questioned,  circumvented,  surrounded  with  folly,  up¬ 
roar,  and  outrage,  as  she  was,  they  could  not  intimidate 
her  to  say  less,  or  entrap  her  to  say  more. 

Then  another  line  of  criminating  questions  was 
started  by  the  magistrate :  “  Why  did  you  never  visit 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


67 


these  afflicted  persons  ?  ”  — •  “  Because  I  was  afraid  I 
should  have  fits  too.”  On  every  motion  of  her  body, 
“  fits  followed  upon  the  complainants,  abundantly  and 
very  frequently.”  As  soon  as  order  was  again  re¬ 
stored,  Hathorne,  being,  as  he  always  was,  wholly  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  reality  of  the  sufferings  of  the  “  afflicted 
children,”  addressed  her  thus,  “  Is  it  not  an  unac¬ 
countable  case,  that,  when  you  are  examined,  these 
persons  are  afflicted  ?  ”  Seeing  that  he  and  the  whole 
assembly  put  faith  in  the  accusers,  her  only  reply  was, 
“  I  have  got  nobody  to  look  to  but  God.”  As  she 
uttered  these  words,  she  naturally  attempted  to  raise 
her  hands,  whereupon  “  the  afflicted  persons  were 
seized  with  violent  fits  of  torture.”  After  silence  was 
again  restored,  the  magistrate  pressed  his  questions 
still  closer.  “  Do  you  believe  these  afflicted  persons 
are  bewitched  ?  ”  She  answered,  “  I  do  think  they 
are.”  It  will  be  noticed  that  there  was  this  difference 
between  Rebecca  Nurse  and  Martha  Corey  :  The  latter 
was  an  utter  heretic  on  the  point  of  the  popular  faith 
respecting  witchcraft ;  she  did  not  believe  that  there 
were  any  witches,  and  she  looked  upon  the  declara¬ 
tions  and  actions  of  the  “  afflicted  children  ”  as  the 
ravings  of  “  distracted  persons.”  The  former  seems  to 
have  held  the  opinions  of  the  day,  and  had  no  disbe¬ 
lief  in  witchcraft :  she  was  willing  to  admit  that  the 
children  were  bewitched  ;  but  she  knew  her  own  inno¬ 
cence,  and  nothing  could  move  her  from  the  conscious¬ 
ness  of  it.  Mr.  Hathorne  continued,  “  When  this 
witchcraft  came  upon  the  stage,  there  was  no  suspicion 


68 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


of  Tituba,  Mr.  Parris’s  Indian  woman.  She  professed 
much  love  to  that  child,  —  Betty  Parris  ;  but  it  was  her 
apparition  did  the  mischief :  and  why  should  not  you 
also  be  guilty,  for  your  apparition  doth  hurt  also  ?  ” 
Her  answer  was,  “  Would  you  have  me  belie  myself?  ” 
Weary,  probably,  of  the  protracted  proceedings,  her 
head  drooped  on  one  side  ;  and  forthwith  the  necks  of 
the  afflicted  children  were  bent  in  the  same  way.  This 
new  demonstration  of  the  diabolical  power  that  pro¬ 
ceeded  from  her  filled  the  house  with  increased  awe, 
and  spread  horrible  conviction  of  her  guilt  through  all 
minds.  Elizabeth  Hubbard’s  neck  was  fixed  in  that 
direction,  and  could  not  be  moved.  Abigail  Williams 
cried  out,  “  Set  up  Goody  Nurse’s  head,  the  maid’s 
neck  will  be  broke.”  Whereupon,  some  persons  held 
the  prisoner’s  head  up,  and  “  Aaron  Way  observed  that 
Betty  Hubbard’s  was  immediately  righted.”  To  con¬ 
summate  the  effect  of  the  whole  proceeding,  Mr.  Par¬ 
ris,  by  direction  of  the  magistrates,  “  read  what  he 
had  in  characters  taken  from  Mr.  Thomas  Putnam’s 
wife  in  her  fits.”  We  shall  come  to  the  matter  thus 
introduced  by  Mr.  Parris,  at  a  future  stage  of  the  story. 
It  is  sufficient  here  to  say,  that  it  contained  the  most 
positive  and  minute  declarations  that  the  apparition  of 
Rebecca  Nurse  had  appeared  to  her,  on  several  occa¬ 
sions,  and  horribly  tortured  her.  After  hearing  Parris’s 
statement,  Hathorne  asked  the  prisoner,  “  What  do  you 
think  of  this  ?  ”  Her  reply  was,  “  I  cannot  help  it : 
the  Devil  may  appear  in  my  shape.”  It  may  be  men¬ 
tioned,  that  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  was  present  during  this 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


69 


examination,  and,  in  the  course  of  it,  went  into  the 
most  dreadful  bodily  agony,  charging  it  on  Rebecca 
Nurse.  Her  sufferings  were  so  violent,  and  held  on  so 
long,  that  the  magistrates  gave  permission  to  her  hus¬ 
band  to  carry  her  out  of  the  meeting-house,  to  free  her 
from  the  malignant  presence  of  the  prisoner.  The 
record  of  the  examination  closes  thus :  — 

“  Salem  Village,  March  24th,  169^.  —  The  Reverend  Mr. 
Samuel  Parris,  being  desired  to  take  in  writing  the  examina¬ 
tion  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  hath  returned  it  as  aforesaid. 

“  Upon  hearing  the  aforesaid,  and  seeing  what  we  then  did 
see,  together  with  the  charges  of  the  persons  then  present, 
we  committed  Rebecca  Nurse,  the  wife  of  Francis  Nurse 
of  Salem  Village,  unto  Her  Majesty’s  jail  in  Salem,  as  per 
mittimus  then  given  out,  in  order  to  further  examination. 


The  presence  of  Ann  Putnam,  the  mother,  on  this 
occasion  ;  the  statement  from  her,  read  by  Mr.  Parris  ; 
and  the  terrible  sufferings  she  exhibited,  produced,  no 
doubt,  a  deep  effect  upon  the  magistrates  and  all 
present.  Her  social  position  and  personal  appearance 
undoubtedly  contributed  to  heighten  it.  For  two 
months,  her  house  had  been  the  constant  scene  of  the 
extraordinary  actings  of  the  circle  of  girls  of  which  her 
daughter  and  maid-servant  were  the  leading  spirits. 


70 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Her  mind  had  been  absorbed  in  the  mysteries  of 
spiritualism.  The  marvels  of  necromancy  and  magic 
bad  been  kept  perpetually  before  it.  She  bad  been 
living  in  the  invisible  world,  with  a  constant  sense 
of  supernaturalism  surrounding  her.  Unconsciously, 
perhaps,  the  passions,  prejudices,  irritations,  and  ani¬ 
mosities,  to  which  she  bad  been  subject,  became  mixed 
with  the  vagaries  of  an  excited  imagination ;  and,  laid 
open  to  the  inroads  of  delusion  as  her  mind  bad  long 
been  by  perpetual  tamperings  with  spiritual  ideas  and 
phantoms,  she  may  have  lost  the  balance  of  reason  and 
sanity.  This,  added  to  a  morbid  sensibility,  probably 
gave  a  deep  intensity  to  her  voice,  action,  and  counte¬ 
nance.  The  effect  upon  the  excited  multitude  must 
have  been  very  great.  Although  she  lived  to  realize 
the  utter  falseness  of  all  her  statements,  her  monstrous 
fictions  were  felt  by  her,  at  the  time,  to  be  a  reality. 

In  concluding  bis  report  of  this  examination,  Mr. 
Parris  says,  “  By  reason  of  great  noises  by  the 
afflicted  and  many  speakers,  many  tilings  are  preter- 
mitted.”  He  was  probably  quite  willing  to  avoid 
telling  the  whole  story  of  the  disgraceful  and  shock¬ 
ing  scenes  enacted  in  the  meeting-house  that  day. 
Deodat  Lawson  was  present  during  the  earlier  part  of 
the  proceedings.  He  says  that  Mr.  Hale  began  with 
prayer ;  that  the  prisoner  “  pleaded  her  innocency 
with  earnestness ;  ”  that,  at  the  opening,  some  of  the 
girls,  Mary  Walcot  among  them,  declared  that  the  pris¬ 
oner  had  never  hurt  them.  Presently,  however,  Mary 
Walcot  screamed  out  that  she  was  bitten,  and  charged 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


71 


it  upon  Rebecca  Nurse.  The  marks  of  teeth  were 
produced  on  her  wrist.  Lawson  says,  “  It  was  so  dis¬ 
posed  that  I  had  not  leisure  to  attend  the  whole  time 
of  examination.”  The  meaning  is,  I  suppose,  that  lie 
desired  to  withdraw  into  the  neighboring  fields  to  con 
over  his  manuscript,  and  make  himself  more  able  to 
perform  with  effect  the  part  he  was  to  act  that  after¬ 
noon.  “  There  was  once,”  he  says,  “  such  an  hideous 
screech  and  noise  (which  I  hoard  as  I  walked  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  meeting-house)  as  did  amaze  me  ; 
and  some  that  were  within  told  me  the  whole  assem¬ 
bly  was  struck  with  consternation,  and  they  were  afraid 
that  those  that  sat  next  to  them  were  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  witchcraft.”  The  whole  congregation  was  in 
an  uproar,  every  one  afflicted  by  and  affrighting  every 
other,  amid  a  universal  outcry  of  terror  and  horror. 

As  it  was  a  part  of  the  policy  of  the  managers  of 
the  business  to  utterly  overwhelm  the  influence  of  all 
natural  sentiment  in  the  community,  they  coupled 
with  this  proceeding  against  a  venerable  and  infirm 
great-grandmother,  another  of  the  same  kind  against 
a  little  child.  Immediately  after  the  examination  of 
Rebecca  Nurse  was  concluded,  Dorcas,  a  daughter  of 
Sarah  Good,  was  brought  before  the  magistrates.  She 
was  between  four  and  five  years  old.  Lawson  says, 
“  The  child  looked  hale  and  well  as  other  children.” 
A  warrant  had  been  issued  for  her  apprehension,  the 
day  before,  on  complaint  of  Edward  and  Jonathan 
Putnam.  Herrick  the  marshal,  who  was  a  man  that 
magnified  his  office,  and  of  much  personal  pride,  did 


72 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


not,  perhaps,  fancy  the  idea  of  bringing  up  such  a 
little  prisoner ;  and  he  deputized  the  operation  to 
Samuel  Braybrook,  who,  the  next  morning,  made  re¬ 
turn,  in  due  form,  that  “  he  had  taken  the  body  of 
Dorcas  Good,”  and  sent  her  to  the  house  of  Nathaniel 
Ingcrsoll,  where  she  was  in  custody.  It  seems  that 
Braybrook  did  not  like  the  job,  and  passed  the  hand¬ 
ling  of  the  child  over  to  still  another.  Whoever  per¬ 
formed  the  service  probably  brought  her  in  his  arms, 
or  on  a  pillion.  The  little  thing  could  not  have 
walked  the  distance  from  Benjamin  Putnam’s  farm. 
When  led  in  to  be  examined,  Ann  Putnam,  Mary  Wal- 
cot,  and  Mercy  Lewis,  all  charged  her  with  biting, 
pinching,  and  almost  choking  them.  The  two  former 
went  through  their  usual  evolutions  in  the  presence  of 
the  awe  and  terror  stricken  magistrates  and  multitude. 
They  showed  the  marks  of  her  little  teeth  on  their 
arms ;  and  the  pins  with  which  she  pricked  them  were 
found  on  their  bodies,  precisely  where,  in  their  shrieks, 
they  had  averred  that  she  was  piercing  them.  The 
evidence  was  considered  overwhelming ;  and  Dorcas 
was,  per  mittimus ,  committed  to  the  jail,  where  she 
joined  her  mother.  By  the  bill  of  the  Boston  jailer, 
it  appears  that  they  both  were  confined  there :  as  they 
were  too  poor  to  provide  for  themselves,  “  the  country  ” 
was  charged  with  ten  shillings  for  “  two  blankets  for 
Sarah  Good’s  child.”  The  mother,  we  know,  was 
kept  in  chains ;  the  child  was  probably  chained  too. 
Extraordinary  fastenings,  as  has  been  stated,  were 
thought  necessary  to  hold  a  witch. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


73 


There  was  no  longer  any  doubt,  in  the  mass  of  the 
community,  that  the  Devil  had  effected  a  lodgement  at 
Salem  Village.  Church-members,  persons  of  all  social 
positions,  of  the  highest  repute  and  profession  of  piety, 
eminent  for  visible  manifestations  of  devotion,  and 
of  every  age,  had  joined  his  standard,  and  become 
his  active  allies  and  confederates. 

The  effect  of  these  two  examinations  was  unques¬ 
tionably  very  great  in  spreading  consternation  and 
bewilderment  far  and  wide ;  but  they  were  only  the 
prelude  to  the  work,  to  that  end,  arranged  for  the  day. 
The  public  mind  was  worked  to  red  heat,  and  now  was 
the  moment  to  strike  the  blow  that  would  fix  an  im¬ 
pression  deep  and  irremovable  upon  it.  It  was  Thurs¬ 
day,  Lecture-day  ;  and  the  public  services  usual  on  the 
occasion  were  to  be  held  at  the  meeting-house. 

Deodat  Lawson  had  arrived  at  the  village  on  the 
19th  of  March,  and  lodged  at  Deacon  Ingersoll’s.  The 
fact  at  once  became  known  ;  and  Mary  Walcot  imme¬ 
diately  went  to  the  deacon’s  to  see  him.  She  had  a  fit 
on  the  spot,  which  filled  Lawson  with  amazement  and 
horror.  His  turn  of  mind  led  him  to  be  interested  in 
such  an  excitement ;  and  he  had  become  additionally 
and  specially  exercised  by  learning  that  the  afflicted 
persons  had  intimated  that  the  deaths  of  his  wife  and 
daughter,  which  occurred  during  his  ministry  at  the 
village,  had  been  brought  about  by  the  diabolical 
agency  of  the  persons  then  beginning  to  be  unmasked, 
and  brought  to  justice.  He  was  prepared  to  listen  to 
the  hints  thus  thrown  out,  and  was  ready  to  push 


74 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  prosecutions  on  with  an  earnestness  in  which 
resentment  and  rage  were  mingled  with  the  blindest 
credulity.  After  Mary  Walcot  had  given  him  a  speci¬ 
men  of  what  the  girls  were  suffering,  he  walked  over, 
early  in  the  evening,  to  Mr.  Parris’s  house  ;  and  there 
Abigail  Williams  went  into  the  craziest  manifestations, 
throwing  firebrands  about  the  house  in  the  presence 
of  her  uncle,  rushing  to  the  back  of  the  chimney  as 
though  she  would  fly  up  through  its  wide  flue,  and  per¬ 
forming  many  wonderful  works.  The  next  day  being 
Sunday,  he  preached  ;  and  the  services  were  inter¬ 
rupted,  in  the  manner  already  described,  by  the  out¬ 
breaks  of  the  afflicted,  under  diabolic  influence.  The 
next  day,  ho  attended  the  examination  of  Martha 
Corey.  On  Wednesday,  the  23d,  he  went  up  to 
Thomas  Putnam’s,  as  lie  says,  “  on  purpose  to  see  his 
wife.”  lie  “  found  her  lying  on  the  bed,  having  had  a 
sore  fit  a  little  before :  her  husband  and  she  both 
desired  me  to  pray  with  her  while  she  was  sensible, 
which  I  did,  though  the  apparition  said  I  should  not  go 
to  prayer.  At  the  first  beginning,  she  attended  ;  but, 
after  a  little  time,  was  taken  with  a  fit,  yet  continued 
silent,  and  seemed  to  be  asleep.”  She  had  represented 
herself  as  being  in  conflict  with  the  shape,  or  spectre, 
of  a  witch,  which,  she  told  Lawson,  said  he  should  not 
pray  on  the  occasion.  But  he  courageously  ventured 
on  the  work.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  prayer,  “  her 
husband,  going  to  her,  found  her  in  a  fit.  He  took  her 
off  the  bed  to  sit  her  on  his  knees ;  but  at  first  she 
was  so  stiff  she  could  not  be  bended,  but  she  after- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


75 


wards  sat  down.”  Then  she  went  into  that  state  of 
supernatural  vision  and  exaltation  in  which  she  was 
accustomed  to  utter  the  wildest  strains,  in  fervid,  ex¬ 
travagant,  but  solemn  and  melancholy,  rhapsodies  :  she 
disputed  with  the  spectre  about  a  text  of  Scripture, 
and  then  poured  forth  the  most  terrible  denunciations 
upon  it  for  tormenting  and  tempting  her.  She  was 
evidently  a  very  intellectual  and  imaginative  woman, 
and  was  perfectly  versed  in  all  the  imagery  and  lofty 
diction  supplied  by  the  prophetic  and  poetic  parts  of 
Scripture.  Again  she  was  seized  with  a  terrible  fit, 
that  lasted  “  near  half  an  hour.”  At  times,  her  mouth 
was  drawn  on  one  side  and  her  body  strained.  At 
last  she  broke  forth,  and  succeeded,  after  many  violent 
struggles  against  the  spectre  and  many  convulsions  of 
her  frame,  in  saying  what  part  of  the  Bible  Lawson 
was  to  read  aloud,  in  order  to  relieve  her.  “  It  is,” 
she  said,  “  the  third  chapter  of  the  Revelation.”  —  “  I 
did,”  says  Lawson,  “  something  scruple  the  reading 
it.”  He  was  loath  to  be  engaged  in  an  affair  of  that 
kind  in  which  the  Devil  was  an  actor.  At  length  he 
overcame  his  scruples,  and  the  effect  was  decisive. 
“  Before  I  had  near  read  through  the  first  verse,  she 
opened  her  eyes,  and  was  well.”  Bewildered  and 
amazed,  he  went  back  to  Parris’s  house,  and  they 
talked  over  the  awful  manifestations  of  Satan’s  power. 
The  next  morning,  he  attended  the  examination  of 
Rebecca  Nurse,  retiring  from  it,  at  an  early  hour, 
to  complete  his  preparation  for  the  service  that  had 
been  arranged  for  him  that  afternoon. 


76 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


I  say  arranged,  because  the  facts  in  this  case  prove 
long-concerted  arrangement.  He  was  to  preach  a 
sermon  that  day.  Word  must  have  been  sent  to  him 
weeks  before.  After  reaching  the  village,  every  hour 
had  been  occupied  in  exciting  spectacles  and  engross¬ 
ing  experiences,  filling  his  mind  with  the  fanatical  en¬ 
thusiasm  requisite  to  give  force  and  fire  to  the  delivery 
of  the  discourse.  He  could  not  possibly  have  written 
it  after  coming  to  the  place.  He  must  have  brought 
it  in  his  pocket.  It  is  a  thoroughly  elaborated  and 
carefully  constructed  performance,  requiring  long  and 
patient  application  to  compose  it,  and  exhausting  all 
the  resources  of  theological  research  and  reference, 
and  of  artistic  skill  and  finish.  It  is  adapted  to  the 
details  of  an  occasion  which  was  prepared  to  meet 
it.  Not  only  the  sermon  hut  the  audience  were  the 
result  of  arrangement  carefully  made  in  the  stages  of 
preparation  and  in  the  elements  comprised  in  it. 
The  preceding  steps  had  all  been  seasonably  and 
appositely  taken,  so  that,  when  the  regular  lecture 
afternoon  came,  Lawson  would  have  his  voluminous 
discourse  ready,  and  a  congregation  he  in  waiting  to 
hear  it,  with  minds  suitably  wrought  upon  by  the 
preceding  incidents  of  the  day,  to  be  thoroughly  and 
permanently  impressed  by  it.  The  occasion  had  been 
heralded  by  a  train  of  circumstances  drawing  every¬ 
body  to  the  spot.  The  magistrates  were  already  there, 
some  of  them  by  virtue  of  the  necessity  of  official 
presence  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  day,  and  others  came 
in  from  the  neighborhood  ;  the  ministers  gathered  from 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


77 


the  towns  in  the  vicinity ;  men  and  women  came  from 
all  quarters,  flocking  along  the  highways  and  the  by¬ 
ways,  large  numbers  on  horseback,  and  crowds  on 
foot.  Probably  the  village  meeting-house,  and  the 
grounds  around  it,  presented  a  spectacle  such  as  never 
was  exhibited  elsewhere.  Awe,  dread,  earnestness,  a 
stern  but  wild  fanaticism,  were  stamped  on  all  coun¬ 
tenances,  and  stirred  the  heaving  multitude  to  its 
depths,  and  in  all  its  movements  and  utterances.  It 
is  impossible  to  imagine  a  combination  of  circum¬ 
stances  that  could  give  greater  advantage  and  power 
to  a  speaker,  and  Lawson  was  equal  to  the  situation. 
No  discourse  was  ever  more  equal,  or  better  adapted, 
to  its  occasion.  It  was  irresistible  in  its  power,  and 
carried  the  public  mind  as  by  storm. 

The  text  is  Zechariah,  iii.  2 :  “  And  the  Lord  said 
unto  Satan,  The  Lord  rebuke  thee,  0  Satan  !  even  the 
Lord  that  hath  chosen  Jerusalem  rebuke  thee:  is  not 
this  a  brand  plucked  out  of  the  fire  ?  ”  After  an 
allusion  to  the  rebellion  of  Satan,  and  his  fall  from 
heaven  with  his  “  accursed  legions,”  and  after  repre¬ 
senting  them  as  filled  “  with  envy  and  malice  against 
all  mankind,”  seeking  “  by  all  ways  and  means  to 
work  their  ruin  and  destruction  for  ever,  opposing 
to  the  utmost  all  persons  and  things  appointed  by  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  means  or  instruments  of  their 
comfort  here  or  salvation  hereafter,”  he  proceeds,  in 
the  manner  of  those  days,  to  open  his  text  and  spread 
out  his  subject,  all  along  exhibiting  great  ability,  skill, 
and  power,  showing  learning  in  his  illustrations,  draw- 


78 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ing  aptly  and  abundantly  from  the  Scriptures,  and, 
at  the  right  points,  rising  to  high  strains  of  eloquence 
in  diction  and  imagery. 

He  describes,  at  great  length  and  with  abundant 
instances  ingeniously  selected  from  sacred  and  pro¬ 
fane  literature,  the  marvellous  power  with  which  Satan 
is  enabled  to  operate  upon  mankind.  He  says, — 

“  He  is  a  spirit,  and  hence  strikes  at  the  spiritual  part, 
the  most  excellent  (constituent)  part  of  man.  Primarily 
disturbing  and  interrupting  the  animal  and  vital  spirits,  he 
maliciously  operates  upon  the  more  common  powers  of  the 
soul  by  strange  and  frightful  representations  to  the  fancy 
or  imagination  ;  and,  by  violent  tortures  of  the  body,  often 
threatening  to  extinguish  life,  as  hath  been  observed  in 
those  that  are  afflicted  amongst  us.  And  not  only  so, 
but  he  vents  his  malice  in  diabolical  operations  on  the  more 
sublime  and  distinguishing  faculties  of  the  rational  soul, 
raising  mists  of  darkness  and  ignorance  in  the  understand¬ 
ing.  .  .  .  Sometimes  he  brings  distress  upon  the  bodies  of 
men,  by  malignant  operations  in,  and  diabolical  impressions 
on,  the  spirituous  principle  or  vehicle  of  life  and  motion.  .  .  . 
There  are  certainly  some  lower  operations  of  Satan  (where¬ 
of  there  are  sundry  examples  among  us),  which  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men  and  women  are  liable  unto.  And  who¬ 
soever  hath  carefully  observed  those  things  must  needs  be 
convinced,  that  the  motions  of  the  persons  afflicted,  both  as 
to  the  manner  and  as  to  the  violence  of  them,  are  the  mere 
effects  of  diabolical  malice  and  operations,  and  that  it  can¬ 
not  rationally  be  imagined  to  proceed  from  any  other  cause 
whatever.  .  .  .  Satan  exerts  his  malice  mediately  by  employ¬ 
ing  some  of  mankind  and  other  creatures,  and  he  frequently 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


79 


useth  other  persons  or  things,  that  his  designs  may  be  the 
more  undiscernible.  Thus  he  used  the  serpent  in  the  first 
temptation  (Gen.  iii.  1).  Hence  he  contracts  and  indents 
with  witches  and  wizards,  that  they  shall  be  the  instruments 
by  whom  he  may  more  secretly  affect  and  afflict  the  bodies 
and  minds  of  others ;  and,  if  he  can  prevail  upon  those  that 
make  a  visible  profession,  it  may  be  the  better  covert  unto 
his  diabolical  enterprise,  and  may  the  more  readily  pervert 
others  to  consenting  unto  his  subjection.  So  far  as  we  can 
look  into  those  hellish  mysteries,  and  guess  at  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  that  kingdom  of  darkness,  we  may  learn  that 
witches  make  witches  by  persuading  one  the  other  to  sub¬ 
scribe  to  a  book  or  articles,  &c.  ;  and  the  Devil,  having  them 
in  his  subjection,  by  their  consent,  he  will  use  their  bodies 
and  minds,  shapes  and  representations,  to  affright  and  afflict 
others  at  his  pleasure,  for  the  propagation  of  his  infernal 
kingdom,  and  accomplishing  his  devised  mischiefs  to  the 
souls,  bodies,  and  lives  of  the  children  of  men,  yea,  and 
of  the  children  of  God  too,  so  far  as  permitted  and  is 
possible.  .  .  .  He  insinuates  into  the  society  of  the  adopted 
children  of  God,  in  their  most  solemn  approaches  to  him, 
in  sacred  ordinances,  endeavoring  to  look  so  like  the  true 
saints  and  ministers  of  Christ,  that,  if  it  were  possible,  he 
would  deceive  the  very  elect  (Matt.  xxiv.  24)  by  his  sub- 
tilty :  for  it  is  certain  he  never  works  more  like  the  Prince 
of  darkness  than  when  he  looks  most  like  an  angel  of  light : 
and,  when  he  most  pretends  to  holiness,  he  then  doth  most 
secretly,  and  by  consequence  most  surely,  undermine  it,  and 
those  that  most  excel  in  the  exercise  thereof.  ” 

The  following  is  a  specimen  of  the  style  in  which 
he  stirred  up  the  people  :  — 


80 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  The  application  of  this  doctrine  to  ourselves  remains 
now  to  be  attended.  Let  it  be  for  solemn  warning  and 
awakening  to  all  of  us  that  are  before  the  Lord  at  this  time, 
and  to  all  others  of  this  whole  people,  who  shall  come  to 
the  knowledge  of  these  direful  operations  of  Satan,  which 
the  holy  God  hath  permitted  in  the  midst  of  us. 

“  The  Lord  doth  terrible  things  amongst  us,  by  lengthen¬ 
ing  the  chain  of  the  roaring  lion  in  an  extraordinary  man¬ 
ner,  so  that  the  Devil  is  come  down  in  great  wrath  (Rev. 
xii.  12),  endeavoriug  to  set  up  his  kingdom,  and,  by  racking 
torments  on  the  bodies,  and  affrightening  representations 
to  the  minds  of  many  amongst  us,  to  force  and  fright  them 
to  become  his  subjects.  I  may  well  say,  then,  in  the  words  of 
the  prophet  (Mic.  vi.  9),  ‘  The  Lord’s  voice  crietli  to  the  city,’ 
and  to  the  country  also,  with  an  unusual  and  amazing  loud¬ 
ness.  Surely,  it  warns  us  to  awaken  out  of  all  sleep,  of 
security  or  stupidity,  to  arise,  and  take  our  Bibles,  turn  to, 
and  learn  that  lesson,  not  by  rote  only,  but  by  heart.  1  Pet. 
v.  8  :  ‘Be  sober,  be  vigilant  ;  because  your  adversary  the 
Devil  goes  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  amongst 
you  he  may  distress,  delude,  and  devour.’  .  .  .  Awake,  awake 
then,  I  beseech  you,  and  remain  no  longer  under  the  domin¬ 
ion  of  that  prince  of  cruelty  and  malice,  whose  tyrannical 
fury  we  see  thus  exerted  against  the  bodies  and  minds  of 
these  afflicted  persons  !  .  .  .  This  warning  is  directed  to  all 
manuer  of  persons,  according  to  their  condition  of  life,  both 
in  civil  and  sacred  order;  both  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
old  and  young,  bond  and  free.  Oh,  let  the  observation  of 
these  amazing  dispensations  of  God’s  unusual  and  strange 
Providence  quicken  us  to  our  duty,  at  such  a  time  as  this, 
in  our  respective  places  and  stations,  relations  and  capacities  ! 
The  great  God  hath  done  such  things  amongst  us  as  do 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


81 


make  the  ears  of  those  that  hear  them  to  tingle  (Jer.  xix.  3)  ; 
and  serious  souls  are  at  a  loss  to  what  these  things  may 
grow,  and  what  we  shall  find  to  be  the  end  of  this  dreadful 
visitation,  in  the  permission  whereof  the  provoked  God  as 
a  lion  hath  roared,  who  can  but  fear  ?  the  Lord  hath 
spoken,  who  can  but  prophesy?  (Amos  iii.  8.)  The  loud 
trumpet  of  God,  in  this  thundering  providence,  is  blown  in 
the  city,  and  the  echo  of  it  heard  through  the  country,  surely 
then  the  people  must  and  ought  to  be  afraid  (Amos  iii.  6). 
.  .  .  You  are  therefore  to  be  deeply  humbled,  and  sit  in  the 
dust,  considering  the  signal  hand  of  God  in  singling  out 
this  place,  this  poor  village,  for  the  first  seat  of  Satan’s 
tyranny,  and  to  make  it  (as  ’twere)  the  rendezvous  of  devils, 
where  they  muster  their  infernal  forces  ;  appearing  to  the 
afflicted  as  coming  armed  to  carry  on  their  malicious  de¬ 
signs  against  the  bodies,  and,  if  God  in  mercy  prevent  not, 
against  the  souls,  of  many  in  this  place.  ...  Be  humbled 
also  that  so  many  members  of  this  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  should  be  under  the  influences  of  Satan’s  malice  in 
these  his  operations ;  some  as  the  objects  of  his  tyranny 
on  their  bodies  to  that  degree  of  distress  which  none  can 
be  sensible  of  but  those  that  see  and  feel  it,  who  are  in  the 
mean  time  also  sorely  distressed  in  their  minds  by  frightful 
representations  made  by  the  devils  unto  them.  Other  pro- 
fessors  and  visible  members  of  this  church  are  under  the 
awful  accusations  and  imputations  of  being  the  instruments 
of  Satan  in  his  mischievous  actings.  It  cannot  but  be 
matter  of  deep  humiliation,  to  such  as  are  innocent,  that 
the  righteous  and  holy  God  should  permit  them  to  be  named 
in  such  pernicious  and  unheard-of  pi-actices,  and  not  only 
so,  but  that  he  who  canuot  but  do  right  should  suffer  the 
stain  of  suspected  guilt  to  be,  as  it  were,  rubbed  on  and 

6 


YOL.  II. 


82 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


soaked  in  by  many  sore  and  amazing  circumstances.  And 
it  is  a  matter  of  soul-abasement  to  all  that  are  in  the  bond 
of  God’s  holy  covenant  in  this  place,  that  Satan’s  seat  should 
be  amongst  them,. where  he  attempts  to  set  up  his  kingdom 
in  opposition  to  Christ’s  kingdom,  and  to  take  some  of  the 
visible  subjects  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  use  at  least  their 
shapes  and  appearances,  instrumentally,  to  afflict  and  torture 
other  visible  subjects  of  the  same  kingdom.  Surely  his  de¬ 
sign  is  that  Christ’s  kingdom  may  be  divided  against  itself, 
that,  being  thereby  weakened,  he  may  the  better  take  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  set  up  his  own  accursed  powers  and  dominions. 
It  calls  aloud  then  to  all  in  this  place  in  the  name  of  the 
blessed  Jesus,  and  words  of  his  holy  apostle  (1  Peter  v.  6), 

‘  Humble  yourselves  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God.’ 

“  It  is  matter  of  terror,  amazement,  and  astonishment, 
to  all  such  wretched  souls  (if  there  be  any  here  in  the  con¬ 
gregation  ;  and  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  grant  that  none  of 
you  may  ever  be  found  such  !  )  as  have  given  up  their  names 
and  souls  to  the  Devil  ;  who  by  covenant,  explicit  or  im¬ 
plicit,  have  bound  themselves  to  be  his  slaves  and  drudges, 
consenting  to  be  instruments  in  whose  shapes  he  may  tor¬ 
ment  and  afflict  their  fellow-creatures  (even  of  their  own 
kind)  to  the  amazing  and  astonishing  of  the  standers-by. 
I  would  hope  I  might  have  spared  this  use,  but  I  desire 
(by  divine  assistance)  to  declare  the  whole  counsel  of  God  ; 
and  if  it  come  not  as  conviction  where  it  is  so,  it  may  serve 
for  waiming,  that  it  may  never  be  so.  For  it  is  a  most 
dreadful  thing  to  consider  that  any  should  change  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  God  for  the  service  of  the  Devil,  the  worship  of  the 
blessed  God  for  the  worship  of  the  cursed  enemy  of  God  and 
man.  But,  oil !  (which  is  yet  a  thousand  times  worse)  how 
shall  I  name  it  ?  if  any  that  are  in  the  visible  covenant  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


83 


God  should  break  that  covenant,  and  make  a  league  with 
Satan  ;  if  any  that  have  sat  down  and  eat  at  Christ’s  Table, 
should  so  lift  up  their  heel  against  him  as  to  have  fellow¬ 
ship  at  the  table  of  devils,  and  (as  it  hath  been  represented 
to  some  of  the  afflicted)  eat  of  the  bread  and  drink  of  the 
wine  that  Satan  hath  mingled.  Surely,  if  this  be  so,  the 
poet  is  in  the  right,  “  Audax  omnia  perpeti.  Gens  humana 
ruit  per  vetitum  nefas  :  ”  audacious  mortals  are  grown  to  a 
fearful  height  of  impiety  ;  and  we  must  cry  out  in  Scripture 
language,  and  that  emphatical  apostrophe  of  the  Prophet 
Jeremy  (chap.  ii.  12),  ‘  Be  astonished,  O  ye  heavens,  at  this, 
and  be  horribly  afraid :  be  ye  very  desolate,  saith  the  Lord.’ 
.  .  .  If  you  are  in  covenant  with  the  Devil,  the  intercession 
of  the  blessed  Jesus  is  against  you.  His  prayer  is  for  the 
subduing  of  Satan’s  power  and  kingdom,  and  the  utter  con¬ 
founding  of  all  his  instruments.  If  it  be  so,  then  the  great 
God  is  set  against  you.  The  omnipotent  Jehovah,  one  God 
in  three  Persons  ;  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  in  their 
several  distinct  operations  and  all  their  divine  attributes,  — 
are  engaged  against  you.  Therefore  know  ye  that  are 
guilty  of  such  monstrous  iniquity,  that  He  that  made  you  will 
not  save  you,  and  that  He  that  formed  you  will  show  you  no 
favor  (Isa.  xxvii.  11).  Be  assured,  that,  although  you 
should  now  evade  the  condemnation  of  man’s  judgment,  and 
escape  a  violent  death  by  the  hand  of  justice  ;  yet,  unless 
God  shall  give  you  repentance  (which  we  heartily  pray  for), 
there  is  a  day  coming  when  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be 
revealed  by  Jesus  Christ  (Rom.  ii.  16).  Then,  then,  your  sin 
will  find  you  out ;  and  you  shall  be  punished  with  everlast¬ 
ing  destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  doomed 
to  those  endless,  easeless,  and  remediless  torments  prepared 
for  the  Devil  and  his  angels  (Matt.  xxv.  41).  .  .  .  If  you 


84 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


have  been  guilty  of  such  impiety,  the  prayers  of  the  people 
of  God  are  against  you  on  that  account.  It  is  their  duty  to 
pray  daily,  that  Satan’s  kingdom  may  be  suppressed,  weak¬ 
ened,  brought  down,  and  at  last  totally  destroyed  ;  hence  that 
all  abettors,  subjects,  defenders,  and  promoters  thereof,  may 
be  utterly  crushed  and  confounded.  They  are  constrained 
to  suppress  that  kindness  and  compassion  that  in  their 
sacred  addresses  they  once  bare  unto  you  (as  those  of  their 
own  kind,  and  framed  out  of  the  same  mould),  praying  with 
one  consent,  as  the  royal  prophet  did  against  his  malicious 
enemies,  the  instruments  of  Satan  (Ps.  cix.  6),  4  Set  thou 
a  wicked  man  over  him,  and  let  Satan  stand  at  his  right 
hand  ’  (i.e.),  to  withstand  all  that  is  for  his  good,  and  promote 
all  that  is  for  his  hurt;  and  (verse  7)  4  When  he  is  judged, 
let  him  be  condemned,  and  let  his  prayer  become  sin.’ 

44  Be  we  exhorted  and  directed  to  exercise  true  spiritual 
sympathy  with,  and  compassion  towards,  those  poor,  afflicted 
persons  that  are  by  divine  permission  under  the  direful  in¬ 
fluence  of  Satan’s  malice.  There  is  a  divine  precept  enjoin¬ 
ing  the  practice  of  such  duty  :  Ileb.  xiii.  3,  4  Remember 
them  that  suffer  adversity,  as  being  yourselves  also  in  the 
body.’  Let  us,  then,  be  deeply  sensible,  and,  as  the  elect  of 
God,  put  on  bowels  of  mercy  towards  those  in  misery 
(Col.  iii.  12).  Oh,  pity,  pity  them!  for  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  hath  touched  them,  and  the  malice  of  devils  hath 
fallen  upon  them. 

44  Let  us  be  sure  to  take  unto  us  and  put  on  the  whole 
armor  of  God,  and  every  piece  of  it ;  let  none  be  wanting. 
Let  us  labor  to  be  in  the  exercise  and  practice  of  the  whole 
company  of  sanctifying  graces  and  religious  duties.  This 
important  duty  is  pressed,  and  the  particular  pieces  of  that 
armor  recited  Eph.  vi.  11  and  13  to  18.  Satan  is  repre- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


85 


seating  his  infernal  forces ;  and  the  devils  seem  to  come 
armed,  mustering  amongst  us.  I  am  this  day  commanded 
to  call  and  cry  an  alarm  unto  you  :  Arm,  arm,  arm  !  handle 
your  arms,  see  that  you  are  fixed  and  in  a  readiness,  as 
faithful  soldiers  under  the  Captain  of  our  salvation,  that,  by 
the  shield  of  faith,  ye  and  we  all  may  resist  the  fiery  darts 
of  the  wicked ;  and  may  be  faithful  unto  death  in  our 
spiritual  warfare;  so  shall  we  assuredly  receive  the  crown  of 
life  (Rev.  ii.  10).  Let  us  admit  no  parley,  give  no  quar¬ 
ter  :  let  none  of  Satan’s  forces  or  furies  be  more  vigilant 
to  hurt  us  than  we  are  to  l'esist  and  repress  them,  in  the 
name,  and  by  the  spirit,  grace,  and  strength  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  ply  the  throne  of  grace,  in  the  name 
and  merit  of  our  Blessed  Mediator,  taking  all  possible 
opportunities,  public,  private,  and  secret,  to  pour  out  our 
supplications  to  the  God  of  our  salvation.  Prayer  is  the 
most  proper  and  potent  antidote  against  the  old  Serpent’s 
venomous  operations.  When  legions  of  devils  do  come 
down  among  us,  multitudes  of  prayers  should  go  up  to  God. 
Satan,  the  worst  of  all  our  enemies,  is  called  in  Scripture  a 
dragon,  to  note  his  malice ;  a  serpent,  to  note  his  subtiltv  ; 
a  lion,  to  note  his  strength.  But  none  of  all  these  can  stand 
before  prayer.  The  most  inveterate  malice  (as  that  of 
Hainan)  sinks  under  the  prayer  of  Esther  (chap.  iv.  16). 
The  deepest  policy  (the  counsel  of  Achitophel)  withers 
before  the  prayer  of  David  (2  Sam.  xv.  31)  ;  and  the 
vastest  army  (an  host  of  a  thousand  thousand  Ethiopians) 
ran  away,  like  so  many  cowards,  before  the  prayer  of  Asa 
(2  Chron.  xiv.  9  to  15). 

“  WI  iat  therefore  I  say  unto  one  I  say  unto  all,  in  this 
important  case,  Pray,  pray,  pray. 

“  To  our  honored  magistrates,  here  present  this  day,  to 


86 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


inquire  into  these  things,  give  me  leave,  much  honored,  to 
offer  one  word  to  your  consideration.  Do  all  that  in  you 
lies  to  check  and  rebuke  Satan  ;  endeavoring,  by  all  ways 
and  means  that  are  according  to  the  rule  of  God,  to  dis¬ 
cover  his  instruments  in  these  horrid  operations.  You  are 
concerned  in  the  civil  government  of  this  people,  being  in¬ 
vested  with  power  by  their  Sacred  Majesties,  under  this 
glorious  Jesus  (the  Kiug  and  Governor  of  his  church),  for 
the  supporting  of  Christ’s  kingdom  against  all  oppositions 
of  Satan’s  kingdom  and  his  instruments.  Being  ordained 
of  God  to  such  a  station  (Rom.  xiii.  1),  we  entreat  you, 
bear  not  the  sword  in  vain,  as  ver.  4  ;  but  approve  your¬ 
selves  a  terror  of  and  punishment  to  evil-doers,  and  a  praise 
to  them  that  do  well  (1  Peter  ii.  14);  ever  remember¬ 
ing  that  ye  judge  not  for  men,  but  for  the  Lord  (2  Chron. 
xix.  6)  ;  and,  as  his  promise  is,  so  our  prayer  shall  be  for 
you,  without  ceasing,  that  he  would  be  with  you  in  the  judg¬ 
ment,  as  he  that  can  and  will  direct,  assist,  and  reward  you. 
Follow  the  example  of  the  upright  Job  (chap.  xxix.  16)  :  Be 
a  father  to  the  poor  ;  to  these  poor  afflicted  persons,  in  piti¬ 
ful  and  painful  endeavors  to  help  them ;  and  the  cause  that 
seems  to  be  so  dark,  as  you  know  not  how  to  determine  it, 
do  your  utmost,  in  the  use  of  all  regular  means,  to  search  it 
out. 

“  There  is  comfort  in  considering  that  the  Lord  Jesus,  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation,  hath  already  overcome  the  Devil. 
Christ,  that  blessed  seed  of  the  woman,  hath  given  this  cursed 
old  serpent  called  the  Devil  and  Satan  a  mortal  and  incura¬ 
ble  bruise  on  the  head  (Gen.  iii.  15).  He  was  too  much 
for  him  in  a  single  conflict  (Matt.  iv.).  He  opposed  his  power 
and  kingdom  in  the  possessed.  He  suffered  not  the  devils 
to  speak,  because  they  knew  him  (Mark  i.  34).  He  com- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


87 


pleted  his  victory  by  his  death  on  the  cross,  and  destroyed  his 
dominion  (Heb.  ii.  14),  that  through  death  he  might  destroy 
death,  and  him  that  had  the  powers  of  death,  that  is  the 
Devil ;  and  by  and  after  his  resurrection  made  show  openly 
unto  the  world,  that  he  had  spoiled  principalities  and  powers, 
triumphing  over  them  (Col.  ii.  15).  lienee,  if  we  are  by 
faith  united  to  him,  his  victory  is  an  earnest  and  prelibation 
of  our  conquest  at  last.  All  Satan’s  smugglings  now  are 
but  those  of  a  conquered  enemy.  It  is  no  small  comfort  to 
consider,  that  Job’s  exercise  of  patience  had  its  beginning 
from  the  Devil  ;  but  we  have  seen  the  end  to  be  from  the 
Lord  (James  v.  11).  That  we  also  may  find  by  experience 
the  same  blessed  issue  of  our  present  distresses  by  Satan’s 
malice,  let  us  repent  of  every  sin  that  hath  been  committed, 
and  labor  to  practise  every  duty  which  hath  been  neglected. 
Then  we  shall  assuredly  and  speedily  find  that  the  kingly 
power  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  shall  be  magnified,  in  deliv¬ 
ering  his  poor  sheep  and  lambs  out  of  the  jaws  and  paws  of 
the  roaring  lion.” 

These  extended  extracts  are  given  from  Lawson’s 
discourse,  partly  to  enable  every  one  to  estimate  the 
effect  it  must  have  produced,  under  the  circumstances 
of  the  occasion,  but  mainly  because  they  present  a 
living  picture  of  the  sentiments,  notions,  modes  of 
thinking  and  reasoning,  and  convictions,  then  preva¬ 
lent.  No  description  given  by  a  person  looking  back 
from  our  point  of  view,  not  having  experienced  the 
delusions  of  that  age,  no  matter  who  might  attempt 
the  task,  could  adequately  paint  the  scene.  The 
foregoing  extracts  show  better,  I  think,  than  any  docu¬ 
ments  that  have  come  down  to  us,  how  the  subject  lay 


88 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


in  the  minds  of  men  at  that  time.  They  bring  before 
us  directly,  without  the  intervention  of  any  secondary 
agency,  the  thoughts,  associations,  sentiments,  of  that 
generation,  in  breathing  reality.  They  carry  us  back 
to  the  hour  and  to  the  spot.  Deodat  Lawson  rises  from 
his  unknown  grave,  comes  forth  from  the  impenetrable 
cloud  which  enveloped  the  closing  scenes  of  his  mortal 
career,  and  we  listen  to  his  voice,  as  it  spoke  to  the 
multitudes  that  gathered  in  and  around  the  meeting¬ 
house  in  Salem  Tillage,  on  Lecture-day,  March  24, 
1692.  He  lays  bare  his  whole  mind  to  our  immediate 
inspection.  In  and  through  him,  we  behold  the  mind 
and  heart,  the  forms  of  language  and  thought,  the  feel¬ 
ings  and  passions,  of  the  people  of  that  day.  We  min¬ 
gle  with  the  crowd  that  hang  upon  his  lips  ;  we  behold 
their  countenances,  discern  the  passions  that  glowed 
upon  their  features,  and  enter  into  the  excitement  that 
moved  and  tossed  them  like  a  tempest.  We  are  thus 
prepared,  as  we  could  be  in  no  other  way,  to  compre¬ 
hend  our  story. 

The  sermon  answered  its  end.  It  re-enforced  the 
powers  that  had  begun  their  work.  It  spread  out 
the  whole  doctrine  of  witchcraft  in  a  methodical,  elabo¬ 
rate,  and  most  impressive  form.  It  justified  and  com¬ 
mended  every  thing  that  had  been  done,  and  every 
thing  that  remained  to  be  done  ;  every  step  in  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  ;  every  process  in  the  examinations ;  every  kind 
of  accusation  and  evidence  that  had  been  adduced  ; 
every  phase  of  the  popular  belief,  however  wild  and 
monstrous ;  every  pretension  of  the  afflicted  children 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


89 


to  preternatural  experiences  and  communications,  and 
every  tale  of  apparitions  of  departed  spirits  and  the 
ghosts  of  murdered  men,  women,  and  children,  which, 
engendered  in  morbid  and  maniac  imaginations,  had 
been  employed  to  fill  him  and  others  with  horror,  in¬ 
spire  revenge,  and  drive  on  the  general  delirium.  And 
it  fortified  every  point  by  the  law  and  the  testimony,  by 
passages  and  scraps  of  Scripture,  studiously  and  skil¬ 
fully  culled  out,  and  ingeniously  applied.  It  gave 
form  to  what  had  been  Vague,  and  authority  to  what 
had  floated  in  blind  and  baseless  dreams  of  fancy.  It 
crystallized  the  disordered  vagaries,  that  had  been 
seething  in  turbulent  confusion  in  the  public  mind, 
into  a  fixed,  organized,  and  permanent  shape. 

Its  publication  was  forthwith  called  for.  The  manu¬ 
script  was  submitted  to  Increase  and  Cotton  Mather  of 
the  North,  James  Allen  and  John  Bailey  of  the  First, 
Samuel  Willard  of  the  Old  South,  churches  in  Boston, 
and  Charles  Morton  of  the  church  in  Charlestown. 
It  was  printed  with  a  strong,  unqualified  indorsement 
of  approval,  signed  by  the  names  severally  of  these  the 
most  eminent  divines  of  the  country.  The  discourse 
was  dedicated  to  the  “  worshipful  and  worthily  honored 
Bartholomew  Godney,  John  Ilathorne,  Jonathan  Cor¬ 
win,  Esqrs.,  together  with  the  reverend  Mr.  John  Hig- 
ginson,  pastor,  and  Mr.  Nicholas  Noyes,  teacher,  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  at  Salem,”  with  a  preface,  addressed 
to  all  his  “  Christian  friends  and  acquaintance,  the 
inhabitants  of  Salem  Village.”  It  was  republished  in 
London  in  1704,  under  the  immediate  direction  of  its 


90 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


author.  The  subject  is  described  as  “  Christ’s  Fidel¬ 
ity,  the  only  Shield  against  Satan’s  Malignity ;  ”  and 
the  titlepage  is  enforced  by  passages  of  Scripture  (Rev. 
xii.  12,  and  Rom.  xvi.  20).  The  interest  of  the  vol¬ 
ume  is  highly  increased  by  an  appendix,  giving  the 
substance  of  notes  taken  by  Lawson  on  the  spot,  dur¬ 
ing  the  examinations  and  trials.  They  are  invaluable, 
as  proceeding  from  a  chief  actor  in  the  scenes,  who  Avas 
wholly  carried  away  by  the  delusion.  They  describe, 
in  marvellous  colors,  the  wonderful  manifestations  of 
diabolical  agency  in,  upon,  and  through  the  afflicted 
children ;  resembling,  in  many  respects,  reports  of 
spiritual  communications  prevalent  in  our  day,  al¬ 
though  not  quite  coming  up  to  them.  These  state¬ 
ments,  and  the  preface  to  the  discourse,  are  given 
in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume.  In  a  much  briefer 
form,  it  was  printed  by  Benjamin  Harris,  at  Boston, 
in  1692  ;  and  soon  after  by  John  Dun  ton,  in  Lon¬ 
don. 

Before  dismissing  Mr.  Lawson’s  famous  sermon,  our 
attention  is  demanded  to  a  remarkable  paragraph  in  it. 
His  strong  faculties  could  not  be  wholly  bereft  of  rea¬ 
son  ;  and  he  had  sense  enough  left  to  see,  what  does 
not  appear  to  have  occurred  to  others,  that  there  might 
be  a  re-action  in  the  popular  passions,  and  that  some 
might  be  called  to  account  by  an  indignant  public,  if 
not  before  a  stern  tribunal  of  justice,  for  the  course  of 
cruelty  and  outrage  they  were  pursuing,  with  so  high 
a  hand,  against  accused  persons.  He  was  not  entirely 
satisfied  that  the  appeal  he  made  in  his  discourse  to 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


91 


the  people  to  suppress  and  crush  out  all  vestiges  of 
human  feeling,  and  to  stifle  compassion  and  pity  in 
their  breasts,  would  prevail.  He  foresaw  that  the 
friends  find  families  of  innocent  and  murdered  victims 
might  one  day  call  for  vengeance ;  and  he  attempts  to 
provide,  beforehand,  a  defence  that  is  truly  inge¬ 
nious  :  — 

“  Give  no  place  to  the  Devil  by  rash  censuring  of  others, 
without  sufficient  grounds,  or  false  accusing  any  willingly. 
This  is  indeed  to  be  like  the  Devil,  who  hath  the  title, 
/hafioXog,  in  the  Greek,  because  he  is  the  calumniator  or 
false  accuser.  Hence,  when  we  read  of  such  accusers  in 
the  latter  days,  they  are,  in  the  original,  called  /hafioXoi, 
calumniatores  (2  Tim.  iii.  3).  It  is  a  time  of  temptation 
amongst  you,  such  as  never  was  before :  let  me  entreat 
you  not  to  be  lavish  or  severe  in  reflecting  on  the  malice 
or  envy  of  your  neighbors,  by  whom  any  of  you  have  been 
accused,  lest,  whilst  you  falsely  charge  one  another, — 
viz.,  the  relations  of  the  afflicted  and  relations  of  the  ac¬ 
cused,  —  the  grand  accuser  (who  loves  to  fish  in  troubled 
waters)  should  take  advantage  upon  you.  Look  at  sin,  the 
procuring  cause  ;  God  in  justice,  the  sovereign  efficient ;  and 
Satan,  the  enemy,  the  principal  instrument,  both  in  afflicting 
some  and  accusing  others.  And,  if  innocent  persons  be  sus¬ 
pected,  it  is  to  be  ascribed  to  God’s  pleasure,  supremely  per¬ 
mitting,  and  Satan’s  malice  subordiuately  troubling,  by 
representation  of  such  to  the  afflicting  of  others,  even 
of  such  as  have,  all  the  while,  we  have  reason  to  believe 
(especially  some  of  them),  no  kind  of  ill-will  or  disrespect 
unto  those  that  have  been  complained  of  by  them.  This 
giving  place  to  the  Devil  avoid  ;  for  it  will  have  uncomforta- 


92 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ble  and  pernicious  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  this  place, 
by  letting  out  peace,  and  bringing  in  confusion  and  every 
evil  work,  which  we  heartily  pray  God,  in  mercy,  to  pre¬ 
vent.” 

This  artifice  of  statement,  speciously  covered, — 
while  it  outrages  every  sentiment  of  natural  justice, 
and  breaks  every  bond  of  social  responsibility,  —  is 
found,  upon  close  inspection,  to  be  a  shocking  imputa¬ 
tion  against  the  divine  administration.  It  represents 
the  Deity,  under  the  phrases  “  sovereign  efficient  ”  and 
“  supremely  permitting  ”  in  a  view  which  affords  equal 
shelter  to  every  other  class  of  criminals,  even  of  the 
deepest  dye,  as  well  as  those  who  were  ready  and  eager 
to  bring  upon  tlieir  neighbors  the  charge  of  confederacy 
with  Satan. 

The  next  Sunday  —  March  27  —  was  the  regular 
communion-day  of  the  village  church ;  and  Mr.  Parris 
prepared  duly  to  improve  the  occasion  to  advance  the 
movement  then  so  strongly  under  way,  and  to  deepen 
still  more  the  impression  made  by  the  events  of  the 
week,  especially  by  Mr.  Lawson’s  sermon.  He  accord¬ 
ingly  composed  an  elaborate  and  effective  discourse  of 
his  own;  and  a  scene  was  arranged  to  follow  the  regular 
service,  which  could  not  but  produce  important  results. 
An  unexpected  occurrence  —  a  part  not  in  the  pro¬ 
gramme  —  took  place,  which  created  a  sensation  for 
the  moment ;  but  it  tended,  upon  the  whole,  to  heighten 
the  public  excitement,  and,  without  much  disturbing 
the  order,  only  precipitated  a  little  the  progress  of 
events. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


93 


It  may  well  be  supposed,  tliat  the  congregation  as¬ 
sembled  that  day  with  minds  awfully  solemnized,  and 
altogether  in  a  condition  to  be  deeply  affected  by  the 
services.  A  respectable  person  always  prominently 
noticeable  for  her  devout  participation  in  the  worship 
of  the  sanctuary,  and  a  member  of  the  church,  had, 
on  Monday,  after  a  public  examination,  been  com¬ 
mitted  to  prison,  and  was  there  in  irons,  waiting  to  be 
tried  for  her  life  for  the  blackest  of  crimes,  —  a  con¬ 
federacy  with  the  enemy  of  the  souls  of  men,  the 
archtraitor  and  rebel  against  the  throne  of  God. 
On  Thursday,  another  venerable,  and  ever  before 
considered  pious,  matron  of  a  large  and  influential 
family,  a  participant  in  their  worship,  and  a  member  of 
the  mother-church,  had  been  consigned  to  the  same 
fate,  to  be  tried  for  the  same  horrible  crime.  A  little 
child  had  been  proved  to  have  also  joined  in  the  infer¬ 
nal  league.  No  one  could  tell  to  what  extent  Satan 
had  lengthened  his  chain,  or  who,  whether  old  or 
young,  were  in  league  with  him.  Every  soul  was  still 
alive  to  the  impressions  made  by  Mr.  Lawson’s  great 
discourse,  and  by  the  throngs  of  excited  people,  in¬ 
cluding  magistrates  and  ministers,  that  had  been  gath¬ 
ered  in  the  village. 

The  character  and  spirit  of  Mr.  Parris’s  sermon  are 
indicated  in  a  prefatory  note  in  the  manuscript,  “  occa¬ 
sioned  by  dreadful  witchcraft  broke  out  here  a  few 
weeks  past ;  and  one  member  of  this  church,  and  another 
of  Salem,  upon  public  examination  by  civil  authority, 
vehemently  suspected  for  she-witches.”  The  running 


94 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


title  is,  “  Christ  knows  how  many  devils  there  are  in 
his  church,  and  who  they  are ;  ”  and  the  text  is  John 
vi.  70,  71,  “Jesus  answered  them,  Have  not  I  chosen 
you  twelve,  and  one  of  you  is  a  devil  ?  He  spake  of 
Judas  Iscariot,  the  son  of  Simon ;  for  he  it  was  that 
should  betray  him,  being  one  of  the  twelve.” 

Peter  Cloyse  was  born  May  27,  1689.  He  came  to 
Salem  from  York,  in  Maine,  and  was  one  of  the  origi¬ 
nal  members  of  the  village  church.  He  appears  to 
have  been  a  person  of  the  greatest  respectability  and 
strength  of  character.  He  married  Sarah,  sister  of 
Rebecca  Nurse,  and  widow  of  Edmund  Bridges.  She 
was  admitted  to  the  village  church,  Jan.  12,  1690,  be¬ 
ing  then  about  forty-eight  years  of  age.  It  may  well 
be  supposed  that  she  and  her  family  were  overwhelmed 
with  affliction  and  horror  by  the  proceedings  against 
her  sister.  But,  as  she  and  her  husband  were  both 
communicants,  and  it  was  sacrament-day,  it  was 
thought  best  for  them  to  summon  resolution  to  attend 
the  service.  After  much  persuasion,  she  was  induced 
to  go.  She  was  a  very  sensitive  person,  and  it  must 
have  required  a  great  effort  of  fortitude.  Her  mind 
was  undoubtedly  much  harrowed  by  the  allusions  made 
to  the  events  of  the  week ;  and,  when  Mr.  Parris  an¬ 
nounced  his  text,  and  opened  his  discourse  in  the 
spirit  his  language  indicates,  she  could  bear  it  no 
longer,  but  rose,  and  left  the  meeting.  A  fresh  wind 
blowing  at  the  time  caused  the  door  to  slam  after  her. 
The  congregation  was  probably  startled ;  but  Parris 
was  not  long  embarrassed  by  the  interruption,  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


95 


she  was  attended  to  in  due  season.  At  the  close 
of  the  service,  the  following  scene  occurred.  I 
give  it  as  Parris  describes  it  in  his  church-record 
book :  — 

“  After  the  common  auditory  was  dismissed,  and  before 
the  church’s  communion  at  the  Lord’s  Table,  the  following 
testimony  against  the  error  of  our  Sister  Mary  Sibley,  who 
had  given  direction  to  my  Indian  man  in  an  unwarrantable 
way  to  find  out  witches,  was  read  by  the  pastor :  — 

“  It  is  altogether  undeniable  that  our  great  and  blessed 
God,  for  wise  and  boly  ends,  hath  suffered  many  persons, 
in  several  families,  of  this  little  village,  to  be  grievously 
vexed  and  tortured  in  body,  and  to  be  deeply  tempted,  to 
the  endangering  of  the  destruction  of  their  souls  ;  and  all 
these  amazing  feats  (well  known  to  many  of  us)  to  be  done 
by  witchcraft  and  diabolical  operations.  It  is  also  well 
known,  that,  when  these  calamities  first  began,  which  was 
in  my  own  family,  the  affliction  was  several  weeks  before 
such  hellish  operations  as  witchcraft  were  suspected.  Nay, 
it  was  not  brought  forth  to  any  considerable  light,  until 
diabolical  means  were  used  by  the  making  of  a  cake  by 
my  Indian  man,  who  had  his  direction  from  this  our  sister, 
Mary  Sibley;  since  which,  apparitions  have  been  plenty, 
ai\d  exceeding  much  mischief  hath  followed.  But,  by  these 
means  (it  seems),  the  Devil  hath  been  raised  amongst  us, 
and  his  rage  is  vehement  and  terrible  ;  and,  when  he  shall 
be  silenced,  the  Lord  only  knows.  But  now  that  this  our 
sister  should  be  instrumental  to  such  distress  is  a  great 
grief  to  myself,  and  our  godly  honored  and  reverend  neigh¬ 
bors,  who  have  had  the  knowledge  of  it.  Nevertheless,  I 
do  truly  hope  and  believe,  that  this  our  sister  doth  truly 


96 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


fear  the  Lord  ;  and  I  am  well  satisfied  from  her,  that,  what 
she  did,  she  did  it  ignorantly,  from  what  she  had  heard  of 
this  nature  from  other  ignorant  or  worse  persons.  Yet  we 
are  in  duty  bound  to  protest  against  such  actions,  as  being 
indeed  a  going  to  the  Devil  for  help  against  the  Devil :  we 
having  no  such  directions  from  nature,  or  God’s  word,  it 
must  therefore  be,  and  is,  accounted,  by  godly  Protestants 
who  write  or  speak  of  such  matters,  as  diabolical ;  and  there¬ 
fore  calls  this  our  sister  to  deep  humiliation  for  what  she 
has  done,  and  all  of  us  to  be  watchful  against  Satan’s  wiles 
and  devices. 

“  Therefore,  as  we,  in  duty  as  a  church  of  Christ,  are 
deeply  bound  to  protest  against  it,  as  most  directly  contrary 
to  the  gospel,  yet,  inasmuch  as  this  our  sister  did  it  in  igno¬ 
rance  as  she  professeth  and  we  believe,  we  can  continue  her 
in  our  holy  fellowship,  upon  her  serious  promise  of  future 
better  advisedness  and  caution,  and  acknowledging  that  she 
is  indeed  sorrowful  for  her  rashness  herein. 

“  Brethren,  if  this  be  your  mind,  that  this  iniquity  should 
be  thus  borne  witness  against,  manifest  it  by  your  usual  sign 
of  lifting  up  your  hands.  — The  brethren  voted  generally,  or 
universally  :  none  made  any  exceptions. 

“  Sister  Sibley,  if  you  are  convinced  that  you  herein  did 
sinfully,  and  are  sorry  for  it,  let  us  hear  it  from  your  own 
mouth.  —  She  did  manifest  to  satisfaction  her  error  and  grief 
for  it. 

“  Brethren,  if  herein  you  have  received  satisfaction, 
testily  it  by  lifting  up  your  hands.  —  A  general  vote  passed  ; 
no  exception  made. 

“Note.  —  25th  March,  1692.  I  discoursed  said  sister 
in  my  study  about  her  grand  error  aforesaid,  and  also  then 
read  to  her  what  I  had  written  as  above  to  be  read  to  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


97 


church  ;  and  said  Sister  Sibley  assented  to  the  same  with 
tears  and  sorrowful  confession.” 

This  proceeding  was  of  more  importance  than  ap¬ 
pears,  perhaps,  at  first  view.  It  was  one  of  Mr.  Par¬ 
ris’s  most  skilful  moves.  The  course  pursued  by  the 
“  afflicted  ”  persons  had,  thus  far,  in  reference  to 
those  engaged  in  the  prosecutions,  been  in  the  right 
direction.  But  it  was  manifest,  after  the  exhibitions 
they  had  given,  that  they  wielded  a  fearful  power,  too 
fearful  to  be  left  without  control.  They  could  cry 
out  upon  whomsoever  they  pleased ;  and  against  their 
accusations,  armed  as  they  were  with  the  power  to 
fix  the  charge  of  guilt  upon  any  one  by  giving  ocular 
demonstration  that  he  or  she  was  the  author  of  their 
sufferings,  there  could  be  no  defence.  They  might 
turn,  at  any  moment,  and  cry  out  upon  Parris  or 
Lawson,  or  either  or  both  of  the  deacons.  Nothing 
could  withstand  the  evidence  of  their  fits,  convul¬ 
sions,  and  tortures.  It  was  necessary  to  have  and 
keep  them  under  safe  control,  and,  to  this  end,  to 
prevent  any  outsiders,  or  any  injudicious  or  inter¬ 
meddling  people,  from  holding  intimacy  with  them. 
Parris  saw  this,  and,  with  his  characteristic  boldness 
of  action  and  fertility  of  resources,  at  once  put  a  stop 
to  all  trouble,  and  closed  the  door  against  danger, 
from  this  quarter. 

Samuel  Sibley  was  a  member  of  the  church,  and  a 
near  neighbor  of  Mr.  Parris.  He  was  about  thirty- 
six  years  of  age.  His  wife  Mary  was  thirty-two  years 
of  age,  and  also  a  member  of  the  church.  They 

7 


VOL.  II. 


98 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


were  persons  of  respectable  standing  and  good  repute. 
Nothing  is  known  to  her  disadvantage,  but  her  fool¬ 
ish  connection  with  the  mystical  operations  going  on 
in  Mr.  Parris’s  family  ;  and  of  this  she  was  heartily 
ashamed.  Her  penitent  sensibility  is  quite  touch¬ 
ingly  described  by  Mr.  Parris.  It  is  true  that  what 
she  had  done  was  a  trifle  in  comparison  with  what 
was  going  on  every  day  in  the  families  of  Mr.  Parris 
and  Thomas  Putnam :  but  she  had  acted  “  rashly,” 
without  “  advisedness  ”  from  the  right  quarter,  under 
the  lead  of  “  ignorant  persons  ;  ”  and  therefore  it  was 
necessary  to  make  a  great  ado  about  it,  and  hold  her 
up  as  a  warning  to  prevent  other  persons  from  med¬ 
dling  in  such  matters.  Her  husband  was  an  uncle 
of  Mary  Walcot,  one  of  the  afflicted  children  ;  and 
it  was  particularly  important  to  keep  their  relatives, 
and  members  of  their  immediate  families,  from  taking 
any  part  or  action  in  connection  with  them,  except 
under  due  “advisedness,”  and  the  direction  of  persons 
learned  in  such  deep  matters.  The  family  connec¬ 
tions  of  the  Sibleys  were  extensive,  and  a  blow  struck 
at  that  point  would  be  felt  everywhere.  The  pro¬ 
cedure  was  undoubtedly  effectual.  After  Mary  Sibley 
had  been  thus  awfully  rebuked  and  distressingly  ex¬ 
posed  for  dealing  with  “  John  Indian,”  it  is  not  likely 
that  any  one  else  ever  ventured  to  intermeddle  with 
the  “  afflicted,”  or  have  any  connection,  except  as 
outside  spectators,  with  the  marvellous  phenomena 
of  “  diabolical  operations.”  It  will  be  noticed,  that, 
while  Mr.  Parris  thus  waved  the  sword  of  disciplinary 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


99 


vengeance  against  any  who  should  dare  to  intrude 
upon  the  forbidden  ground,  he  occupied  it  himself 
without  disguise,  and  maintained  his  hold  upon  it. 
He  asserts  the  reality  of  the  “  amazing  feats  ”  prac¬ 
tised  by  diabolical  power  in  their  midst,  and  enforces 
in  the  strongest  language  the  then  prevalent  views 
and  pending  proceedings. 

The  operations  of  the  week,  including  the  solemn 
censure  of  Mary  Sibley,  had  all  worked  favorably  for 
the  prosecutors  and  managers  of  the  business.  The 
magistrates,  ministers,  and  whole  body  of  the  people, 
had  become  committed  ;  the  accusing  girls  had  proved 
themselves  apt  and  competent  to  their  work  ;  the  public 
reason  was  prostrated,  and  natural  sensibility  stunned. 
All  resisting  forces  were  powerless,  and  all  collateral 
dangers  avoided  and  provided  against.  The  move¬ 
ment  was  fully  in  hand.  The  next  step  was  maturely 
considered,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  skilfully  taken. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  there  was,  at  this  time, 
a  break  in  the  regular  government  of  Massachusetts. 
In  the  spring  of  1G89,  the  people  had  risen,  seized 
the  royal  governor,  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  and  put 
him  in  prison.  They  summoned  their  old  charter 
governor,  Simon  Bradstreet,  then  living  in  Salem, 
eighty-seven  years  of  age,  to  the  chair  of  state ;  called 
the  assistants  of  1686  back  to  their  seats,  who  pro¬ 
vided  for  an  election  of  representatives  by  the  people 
of  the  towns ;  and  the  government  thus  created  con¬ 
ducted  affairs  until  the  arrival  of  Sir  William  Phipps, 
in  May,  1692,  when  Massachusetts  ceased  to  be  a 


100 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


colony,  and  was  thenceforth,  until  1774,  a  royal  prov¬ 
ince.  During  these  three  years,  from  May,  1689,  to 
May,  1692,  the  government  was  based  upon  an  up¬ 
rising  of  the  people.  It  was  a  period  of  pure  and 
absolute  independence  of  the  crown  or  parliament 
of  England.  Although  Bradstreet’s  faculties  were  un¬ 
impaired  and  his  spirit  true  and  firm,  his  age  pre¬ 
vented  his  doing  much  more  than  to  give  his  loved 
and  venerated  name  to  the  daring  movement,  and  to 
the  official  service,  of  the  people.  The  executive  func¬ 
tions  were,  for  the  most  part,  exercised  by  the  deputy- 
governor,  Thomas  Danfortli,  who  was  a  person  of 
great  ability  and  public  spirit.  Unfortunately,  at  this 
time  he  was  zealously  in  favor  of  the  witchcraft  prose¬ 
cutions.  Bradstreet  was  throughout  opposed  to  them. 
Had  time  held  off  its  hand,  and  his  physical  energies 
not  been  impaired,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  re¬ 
sisted  and  prevented  them.  Danfortli,  it  is  said  by 
Brattle,  came  to  disapprove  of  them  finally :  but  he 
began  them  by  arrests  in  other  towns,  months  before 
any  thing  of  the  kind  was  thought  of  in  Salem  Village  ; 
and  he  contributed,  prominently,  to  give  destructive 
and  wide-spread  power,  in  an  early  stage  of  its  devel¬ 
opment,  to  the  witchcraft  delusion  here. 

After  the  lapse  of  a  week,  preparations  were  com¬ 
pleted  to  renew  operations,  and  a  higher  and  more  com¬ 
manding  character  given  to  them.  On  Monday,  April  4, 
Captain  Jonathan  Walcot  and  Lieutenant  Nathaniel 
Ingersoll  went  to  the  town,  and,  “  for  themselves  and 
several  of  their  neighbors,”  exhibited  to  the  assistants 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


101 


residing  there,  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan  Corwin, 
complaints  against  “  Sarah  Cloyse,  the  wife  of  Peter 
Cloyse  of  Salem  Village,  and  Elizabeth  Procter  of 
Salem  Farms,  for  high  suspicion  of  sundry  acts  of 
witchcraft.”  There  the  plan  of  proceedings  in  refer¬ 
ence  to  the  above-said  parties  was  agreed  upon.  It 
was  the  result  of  consultation ;  communications  prob¬ 
ably  passing  with  the  deputy-governor  in  Boston,  or 
at  his  residence  in  Cambridge.  On  the  8th  of  April, 
warrants  were  duly  issued,  ordering  the  marshal  to 
bring  in  the  prisoners  “  on  Monday  morning  next, 
being  the  eleventh  day  of  this  instant  April,  about 
eleven  of  the  clock,  in  the  public  meeting-house  in  the 
town.”  It  had  been  arranged,  that  the  examination 
should  not  be,  as  before,  in  the  ordinary  way,  before 
the  two  local  magistrates,  but,  in  an  extraordinary 
way,  before  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  colony,  or  a 
representation  of  it.  For  a  preliminary  hearing,  with 
a  view  merely  to  commitment  for  trial,  this  surely  may 
justly  be  characterized  as  an  extraordinary,  wholly 
irregular,  and,  in  all  points  of  view,  reprehensible 
procedure.  When  the  day  came,  the  meeting-house, 
which  was  much  more  capacious  than  that  at  the 
village,  was  crowded ;  and  the  old  town  filled  with 
excited  throngs.  Upon  opening  proceedings,  lo  and 
behold,  instead  of  the  two  magistrates,  the  government 
of  the  colony  was  present,  in  the  highest  character 
it  then  had  as  “  a  council  ”  !  The  record  says,  — 

“Salem,  April  11,  1692.  —  At  a  Council  held  at  Salem, 
and  present  Thomas  Danforth,  Esq.,  deputy-governor ; 


102 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


James  Russell,  John  Hatliorne,  Isaac  Addington,  Major 
Samuel  Appleton,  Captain  Samuel  Sewall,  Jonathan  Cor¬ 
win,  Esquires.” 

Russell  was  of  Charlestown,  Addington  and  Sewall 
of  Boston,  and  Appleton  of  Ipswich.  Mr.  Parris, 
“  being  desired  and  appointed  to  write  the  examina¬ 
tion,  did  take  the  same,  and  also  read  it  before  the 
council  in  public.”  This  document  has  not  come 
down  to  us  ;  but  Hutchinson  had  access  to  it,  and 
the  substance  of  it  is  preserved  in  his  “  History  of 
Massachusetts.” 

The  marshal  (Herrick)  brought  in  Sarah  Cloyse 
and  Elizabeth  Procter,  and  delivered  them  “  before 
the  honorable  council :  ”  and  the  examination  was 
begun. 

The  deputy-governor  first  called  to  the  stand  John 
Indian,  and  plied  him,  as  was  the  course  pursued  on 
all  these  occasions,  with  leading  questions  :  — 

“John,  who  hurt  you?  —  Goody  Procter  first,  and  then 
Goody  Cloyse. 

“  What  did  she  do  to  you  ?  —  She  brought  the  book  to 
me. 

“John,  tell  the  truth  :  who  hurts  you  ?  Have  you  been 
hurt  ?  —  The  first  was  a  geutlewoman  I  saw. 

“  Who  next  ?  —  Goody  Cloyse. 

“  But  who  hurt  you  next  ?  —  Goody  Procter. 

“  What  did  she  do  to  you  ?  —  She  choked  me,  and 
brought  the  book. 

“  How  oft  did  she  come  to  torment  you?  —  A  good  many 
times,  she  and  Goody  Cloyse. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


103 


“  Do  they  come  to  you  in  the  night,  as  well  as  the  day  ? 
—  They  come  most  in  the  day. 

“  Who  ?  —  Goody  Cloyse  and  Goody  Procter. 

“  Where  did  she  take  hold  of  you  ?  —  Upon  my  throat,  to 
stop  my  breath. 

“Do  you  know  Goody  Cloyse  and  Goody  Procter?  — 
Yes  :  here  is  Goody  Cloyse.” 

We  may  well  suppose  that  these  two  respectable 
women  must  have  been  filled  with  indignation,  shocked, 
and  amazed  at  the  statements  made  by  the  Indian, 
following  the  leading  interrogatories  of  the  Court. 
Sarah  Cloyse  broke  out,  “  When  did  I  hurt  thee  ?  ” 
He  answered,  “A  great  many  times.”  She  exclaimed, 
“  Oh,  you  are  a  grievous  liar  !  ”  The  Court  proceeded 
with  their  questions  :  — 

“  What  did  this  Goody  Cloyse  do  to  you  ?  —  She  pinched 
and  bit  me  till  the  blood  came. 

“  How  long  since  this  woman  came  and  hurt  you  ?  —  Yes¬ 
terday,  at  meeting. 

“  At  any  time  before  ?  — Yes  :  a  great  many  times.” 

Having  drawn  out  John  Indian,  the  Court  turned  to 
the  other  afflicted  ones  :  — 

“  Mary  Walcot,  who  hurts  you?  —  Goody  Cloyse. 

“  What  did  she  do  to  you  ?  —  She  hurt  me. 

“  Did  she  bring  the  book  ?  —  Yes. 

“What  was  you  to  do  with  it?  —  To  touch  it,  and  be 
well. 

“  (Then  she  fell  into  a  fit.)” 

This  put  a  stop  to  the  examination  for  a  time ;  but 
it  was  generally  quite  easy  to  bring  witnesses  out  of  a 


104 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


fit,  and  restore  entire  calmness  of  mind.  All  that  was 
necessary  was  to  lift  them  up,  and  carry  them  to  the 
accused  person,  the  touch  of  any  part  of  whose  body 
would,  in  an  instant,  relieve  the  sufferer.  This  having 
been  done,  the  examination  proceeded  :  — 

“Doth  she  come  alone? — Sometimes  alone,  and  some¬ 
times  in  company  with  Goody  Nurse  and  Goody  Corey,  and 
a  great  many  I  do  not  kuow. 

“  (Then  she  fell  into  a  fit  again.)” 

She  was,  probably,  restored  in  the  same  way  as  be¬ 
fore  ;  but,  her  part  being  finished  for  that  stage  of  the 
proceeding,  another  of  the  afflicted  children  took  the 
stand :  — 

“  Abigail  Williams,  did  you  see  a  company  at  Mr.  Par¬ 
ris’s  house  eat  and  drink?  —  Yes,  sir:  that  was  in  the 
sacrament.” 

I  would  call  attention  to  the  form  of  the  foregoing 
questions.  Hutchinson  says  that  “  Mr.  Parris  was 
over-officious :  most  of  the  examinations,  although  in 
the  presence  of  one  or  more  magistrates,  were  taken 
by  him.”  He  put  the  questions.  They  show,  on  this 
occasion,  a  minute  knowledge  beforehand  of  what  the 
witnesses  are  to  say,  which  it  cannot  be  supposed 
Danforth,  Russell,  Addington,  Appleton,  and  Sewall, 
strangers,  as  they  were,  to  the  place  and  the  details  of 
the  affair,  could  have  had.  The  examination  pro¬ 
ceeded  :  — 

“How  many  were  there?  —  About  forty,  and  Goody 
Cloyse  and  Goody  Good  were  their  deacons. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


105 


“  What  was  it  ?  —  They  said  it  was  our  blood,  and  they 
had  it  twice  that  day.” 

The  interrogator  again  turned  to  Mary  Walcot,  and 
inquired, — 

“  Have  you  seen  a  white  man  ?  —  Yes,  sir  :  a  great  many 
times. 

“  What  sort  of  a  man  was  he  ?  —  A  fine  grave  man  ;  and, 
when  lie  came,  he  made  all  the  witches  to  tremble. 

“  (Abigail  Williams  confirmed  the  same,  and  that  they  had 
such  a  sight  at  Deacon  Ingersoll’s.) 

“  Who  was  at  Deacon  Ingersoll’s  then  ?  —  Goody  Cloyse, 
Goody  Nurse,  Goody  Corey,  and  Goody  Good. 

“  (Then  Sarah  Cloyse  asked  for  water,  and  sat  down,  as 
one  seized  with  a  dying,  fainting  fit ;  and  several  of  the 
afflicted  fell  into  fits,  and  some  of  them  cried  out,  ‘  Oh  !  her 
spirit  has  gone  to  prison  to  her  sister  Nurse.’)” 

The  audacious  lying  of  the  witnesses ;  the  horrid 
monstrousness  of  their  charges  against  Sarah  Cloyse, 
of  having  bitten  the  flesh  of  the  Indian  brute,  and 
drank  herself  and  distributed  to  others,  as  deacon,  at 
an  infernal  sacrament,  the  blood  of  the  wicked  crea¬ 
tures  making  these  foul  and  devilish  declarations, 
known  by  her  to  be  utterly  and  wickedly  false ;  and 
the  fact  that  they  were  believed  by  the  deputy,  the 
council,  and  the  assembly,  —  were  more  than  she 
could  bear.  Her  soul  sickened  at  such  unimaginable 
depravity  and  wrong ;  her  nervous  system  gave  way ; 
she  fainted,  and  sunk  to  the  floor.  The  manner  in 
which  the  girls  turned  the  incident  against  her  shows 
how  they  were  hardened  to  all  human  feeling,  and  the 


106 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


cunning  art  which,  on  all  occasions,  characterized  their 
proceedings.  That  such  an  insolent  interruption  and 
disturbance,  on  their  part,  was  permitted,  without  re¬ 
buke  from  the  Court,  is  a  perpetual  dishonor  to  every 
member  of  it.  The  scene  exhibited  at  this  moment, 
in  the  meeting-house,  is  worthy  of  an  attempt  to  im¬ 
agine.  The  most  terrible  sensation  was  naturally  pro¬ 
duced,  by  the  swooning  of  the  prisoner,  the  loudly 
uttered  and  savage  mockery  of  the  girls,  and  their 
going  simultaneously  into  fits,  screaming  at  the  top  of 
their  voices,  twisting  into  all  possible  attitudes,  stiffened 
as  in  death,  or  gasping  with  convulsive  spasms  of 
agony,  and  crying  out,  at  intervals,  “  There  is  the  black 
man  whispering  in  Cloyse’s  ear,”  “  There  is  a  yellow- 
bird  flying  round  her  head.”  John  Indian,  on  such 
occasions,  used  to  confine  his  achievements  to  tum¬ 
bling,  and  rolling  his  ugly  body  about  the  floor.  The 
deepest  commiseration  was  felt  by  all  for  the  “  afflict¬ 
ed,”  and  men  and  women  rushed  to  hold  and  soothe 
them.  There  was,  no  doubt,  much  loud  screeching,  and 
some  miscellaneous  faintings,  through  the  whole  crowd. 
At  length,  by  bringing  the  sufferers  into  contact  with 
Goody  Cloyse,  the  diabolical  fluid  passed  back  into  her, 
they  were  all  relieved,  and  the  examination  was  re¬ 
sumed.  Elizabeth  Procter  was  now  brought  forward. 

In  the  account  given,  in  the  First  Part,  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  of  Salem  Village  and  the  contiguous  farms,  her 
husband,  John  Procter,  was  introduced  to  our  ac¬ 
quaintance.  From  what  we  then  saw  of  him,  we  are 
well  assured  that  he  would  not  shrink  from  the  protec- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


107 


tion  and  defence  of  his  wife.  He  accompanied  her 
from  her  arrest  to  her  arraignment,  and  stood  by 
her  side,  a  strong,  brave,  and  resolute  guardian,  trying 
to  support  her  under  the  terrible  trials  of  her  situation, 
and  ready  to  comfort  and  aid  her  to  the  extent  of  his 
power,  disregardful  of  all  consequences  to  himself. 
The  examination  proceeded  :  — 

“  Elizabeth  Procter,  you  understand  whereof  you  are 
charged ;  viz.,  to  be  guilty  of  sundry  acts  of  witchcraft. 
What  say  you  to  it  ?  Speak  the  truth  ;  and  so  you  that  are 
afflicted,  you  must  speak  the  truth,  as  you  will  answer  it  be¬ 
fore  God  another  day.  Mary  Walcot,  doth  this  woman  hurt 
you  ?  —  I  never  saw  her  so  as  to  be  hurt  by  her. 

“  Mercy  Lewis,  does  she  hurt  you  ? 

“  (Her  mouth  was  stopped.) 

“  Ann  Putnam,  does  she  hurt  you  ? 

“  (She  could  not  speak.) 

“  Abigail  Williams,  does  she  hurt  you  ? 

“  (Her  hand  was  thrust  in  her  own  mouth.) 

“John,  does  she  hurt  you?  —  This  is  the  woman  that 
came  in  her  shift,  and  choked  me. 

“  Did  she  ever  bring  the  book?  —  Yes,  sir. 

“  What  to  do  ?  —  To  wrrite. 

“  What  ?  this  woman  ?  —  Yes,  sir. 

“Are  you  sure  of  it?  —  Yes,  sir. 

“  (Again  Abigail  Williams  and  Ann  Putnam  were  spoke 
to  by  the  Court  ;  but  neither  of  them  could  make  any  answer, 
by  reason  of  dumbness  or  other  fits.) 

“  What  do  you  say,  Goody  Procter,  to  these  things  ?  — 
I  take  God  in  heaven  to  be  my  witness,  that  I  know  nothing 
of  it,  no  more  than  the  child  unborn. 


108 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Ann  Putnam,  doth  this  woman  hurt  you  ?  —  Yes,  sir  :  a 
great  many  times. 

“  (Then  the  accused  looked  upon  them,  and  they  fell  into 
fits.) 

“  She  does  not  bring  the  hook  to  you,  does  she  ?  — Yes,  sir, 
often  ;  and  saith  she  hath  made  her  maid  set  her  hand  to  it. 

“Abigail  Williams,  does  this  woman  hurt  you?  —  Yes, 
sir,  often. 

“  Does  she  bring  the  book  to  you  ?  —  Yes. 

“What  would  she  have  you  do  with  it?  —  To  write  in 
it,  and  I  shall  be  well.” 

Turning  to  the  accused,  Abigail  said,  “  Did  not 
you  tell  me  that  your  maid  had  written  ?  ”  Goody 
Procter  seems  to  have  been  utterly  amazed  at  the 
conduct  and  charges  of  the  girls.  She  knew,  of 
course,  that  what  they  said  was  false ;  but  perhaps  she 
thought  them  crazy,  and  therefore  objects  of  pity  and 
compassion,  and  felt  disposed  to  treat  them  kindly, 
and  see  whether  they  could  not  be  recalled  to  their 
senses,  and  restored  to  their  better  nature :  for  Parris, 
in  his  account,  says  that  at  this  point  she  answered  the 
question  thus  put  to  her  by  Abigail  thus  :  “  Dear  child, 
it  is  not  so.  There  is  another  judgment,  dear  child.” 
But  kindness  was  thrown  away  upon  them ;  for  Par¬ 
ris  says  that  immediately  “  Abigail  and  Ann  had 
fits.”  After  coming  out  of  them,  “  they  cried  out, 
1  Look  you  !  there  is  Goody  Procter  upon  the  beam.’  ” 
Instantly,  as  we  may  well  suppose,  the  whole  audience 
looked  where  they  pointed.  Their  manner  gave  as¬ 
surance  that  they  saw  her  “  on  the  beam,”  among  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


109 


rafters  of  the  meeting-liouse ;  but  she  was  invisible  to 
all  other  eyes.  The  people,  no  doubt,  were  filled  with 
amazement  at  such  supernaturalism.  But  John  Proc¬ 
ter,  her  husband,  did  not  believe  a  word  of  it:  and  it 
is  not  to  be  doubted  that  he  expressed  his  indignation 
at  the  nonsense  and  the  outrage  in  his  usual  bold, 
strong,  and  unguarded  language,  which  brought  down 
the  vengeance  of  the  girls  at  once  on  his  own  head  ; 
for  Parris,  in  his  report,  goes  on  to  say :  — 

“  (By  and  by,  both  of  them  cried  out  of  Goodman  Procter 
himself,  and  said  he  was  a  wizard.  Immediately,  many  if 
not  all  of  the  bewitched  had  grievous  fits.) 

“  Ann  Putnam,  who  hurt  you  ? —  Goodman  Procter,  and 
his  wife  too. 

“  (Afterwards,  some  of  the  afflicted  cried,  ‘  There  is  Proc¬ 
ter  going  to  take  up  Mrs.  Pope’s  feet !  ’  and  her  feet  were 
immediately  taken  up.) 

“  What  do  you  say,  Goodman  Procter,  to  these  things  ?  — 
I  know  not.  I  am  innocent.  ' 

“  (Abigail  Williams  cried  out,  ‘There  is  Goodman  Proc¬ 
ter  going  to  Mrs.  Pope  !  ’  and  immediately  said  Pope  fell 
into  a  fit.)” 

At  this  point,  the  deputy,  or  some  member  of  the 
Court  interposed,  if  I  interpret  rightly  Parris’s  report, 
which  is  here  obscurely  expressed,  inasmuch  as  he 
does  not  say  who  spoke ;  but  the  import  of  the  words 
indicates  that  they  proceeded  from  some  member  of 
the  Court,  who  was  perfectly  deceived :  — 

“  You  see,  the  Devil  will  deceive  you  :  the  children  could 
see  what  you  was  going  to  do  before  the  woman  was  hurt. 


no 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


I  would  advise  you  to  repentance,  for  the  Devil  is  bringing 
you  out. 

“  (Abigail  Williams  cried  out  again,  4  There  is  Goodman 
Procter  going  to  hurt  Goody  Bibber !  ’  and  immediately 
Goody  Bibber  fell  into  a  fit.  There  was  the  like  of  Mary 
Walcot,  and  divers  others.  Benjamin  Govdd  gave  in  his 
testimony,  that  he  had  seen  Goodman  Corey  and  his  wife, 
Procter  and  his  wife,  Goody  Cloyse,  Goody  Nurse,  and 
Goody  Griggs  in  his  chamber  last  Thursday  night.  Eliza¬ 
beth  Hubbard  was  in  a  trance  during  the  whole  examination. 
Durin"  the  examination  of  Elizabeth  Procter,  Abigail  Wil- 
liarns  and  Ann  Putnam  both  made  offer  to  strike  at  said 
Procter  ;  but,  when  Abigail’s  hand  came  near,  it  opened,  — 
whereas  it  was  made  up  into  a  fist  before, —  and  came  down 
exceeding  lightly  as  it  drew  near  to  said  Procter,  and  at 
length,  with  open  and  extended  fingers,  touched  Procter’s 
hood  very  lightly.  Immediately,  Abigail  cried  out,  her  fin¬ 
gers,  her  fingers,  her  fingers  burned  ;  and  Ann  Putnam  took 
on  most  grievously  of  her  head,  and  sunk  down.)” 

Hutchinson,  after  giving  Parris’s  account  of  this 
examination,  expresses  himself  thus  :  “  No  wonder  the 
whole  country  was  in  a  consternation,  when  persons  of 
sober  lives  and  unblemished  characters  were  com¬ 
mitted  to  prison  upon  such  sort  of  evidence.  Nobody 
was  safe.”  All  things  considered,  it  may  perhaps  be 
said,  that,  filled  as  the  witchcraft  proceedings  were 
throughout  with  folly  and  outrage,  there  was  nothing 
worse  than  this  examination,  conducted  by  the  deputy- 
governor  and  council,  on  the  lltli  of  April,  1692,  in 
the  great  meeting-house  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem. 
It  must  have  been  a  scene  of  the  wildest  disorder,  par- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Ill 


ticularly  in  the  latter  part  of  it.  No  wonder  that  the 
people  in  general  were  deluded,  when  the  most  learned 
councillors  of  the  colony  countenanced,  participated 
in,  and  gave  effect  to,  such  disorderly  procedures  in  a 
house  of  worship,  in  the  presence  of  a  high  judicial 
tribunal,  and  of  the  then  supreme  government  of  the 
colony ! 

Benjamin  Gould  gave  his  volunteer  testimony  with¬ 
out  “  advisedness,”  and  quite  incontinently.  He 
brought  out  Goodman  Corey  before  the  managers  were 
quite  ready  to  fall  upon  him ;  and  he  antedated,  by  a 
considerable  length  of  time,  any  such  imputation  upon 
Goody  Griggs.  It  was  well  for  Elizabeth  Hubbard  to 
have  been  in  a  trance,  so  that  she  could  not  hear  the 
mention  of  her  aunt’s  name.  The  council  seems  to 
have  adjourned  to  the  next  day,  at  the  same  place, 
when  Mr.  Parris  “  gave  further  information  against 
said  John  Procter,”  which,  unfortunately,  has  not 
come  down  to  us.  The  result  was,  that  Sarah  Cloyse, 
John  Procter,  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,  were  all  commit¬ 
ted  for  trial,  and,  with  Rebecca  Nurse,  Martha  Corey, 
and  Dorcas  Good,  were  sent  to  the  jail  in  Boston,  in  the 
custody  of  Marshal  Herrick. 

The  proceedings  of  the  11th  and  12th  of  April  pro¬ 
duced  a  great  effect  in  driving  on  the  general  infatua¬ 
tion.  Judge  Sewall,  who  was  present  as  one  of  the 
council,  in  his  diary  at  this  date,  says,  “Went  to 
Salem,  where,  in  the  meeting-house,  the  persons  ac¬ 
cused  of  witchcraft  were  examined  ;  was  a  very  great 
assembly ;  ’twas  awful  to  see  how  the  afflicted  persons 


112 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


were  agitated.”  In  the  margin  is  written,  apparently 
some  time  afterwards,  the  interjection  “  Vce!”  thrice 
repeated,  —  u  Alas,  alas,  alas  !  ”  What  perfectly  de¬ 
luded  him  and  Danforth,  and  everybody  else,  were  the 
exhibitions  made  by  the  “  afflicted  children.”  This  is 
the  grand  phenomenon  of  the  witchcraft  proceedings 
here  in  1692.  It,  and  it  alone,  carried  them  through. 
Those  girls,  by  long  practice  in  “  the  circle,”  and  day 
by  day,  before  astonished  and  wondering  neighbors 
gathered  to  witness  their  distresses,  and  especially  on 
the  more  public  occasions  of  the  examinations,  had 
acquired  consummate  boldness  and  tact.  In  simula¬ 
tion  of  passions,  sufferings,  and  physical  affections  ;  in 
sleight  of  hand,  and  in  the  management  of  voice  and 
feature  and  attitude,  —  no  necromancers  have  sur¬ 
passed  them.  There  has  seldom  been  better  acting  in 
a  theatre  than  they  displayed  in  the  presence  of  the 
astonished  and  horror-stricken  rulers,  magistrates, 
ministers,  judges,  jurors,  spectators,  and  prisoners. 
No  one  seems  to  have  dreamed  that  their  actings  and 
sufferings  could  have  been  the  result  of  cunning  or 
imposture.  Deodat  Lawson  was  a  man  of  talents,  had 
seen  much  of  the  world,  and  was  by  no  means  a  simple¬ 
ton,  recluse,  or  novice ;  but  he  was  wholly  deluded  by 
them.  The  prisoners,  although  conscious  of  their  own 
innocence,  were  utterly  confounded  by  the  acting  of  the 
girls.  The  austere  principles  of  that  generation  for¬ 
bade,  with  the  utmost  severity,  all  theatrical  shows  and 
performances.  But  at  Salem  Village  and  the  old 
town,  in  the  respective  meeting-houses,  and  at  Deacon 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  113 

Nathaniel  Ingersoll’s,  some  of  the  best  playing  ever  got 
up  in  this  country  was  practised ;  and  patronized,  for 
weeks  and  months,  at  the  very  centre  and  heart  of 
Puritanism,  by  “the  most  straitest  sect”  of  that 
solemn  order  of  men.  Pastors,  deacons,  church- 
members,  doctors  of  divinity,  college  professors,  officers 
of  state,  crowded,  day  after  day,  to  behold  feats  which 
have  never  been  surpassed  on  the  boards  of  any  thea¬ 
tre  ;  which  rivalled  the  most  memorable  achievements 
of  pantomimists,  thaumaturgists,  and  stage-players ; 
and  made  considerable  approaches  towards  the  best 
performances  of  ancient  sorcerers  and  magicians,  or 
modern  jugglers  and  mesmerizers. 

The  meeting  of  the  council  at  Salem,  on  the  lltli  of 
April,  1692,  changed  in  one  sense  the  whole  charac¬ 
ter  of  the  transaction.  Before,  it  had  been  a  Salem 
affair.  After  this,  it  was  a  Massachusetts  affair.  The 
colonial  government  at  Boston  had  obtruded  itself 
upon  the  ground,  and,  of  its  own  will  and  seeking,  ir¬ 
regularly,  and  without  call  or  justification,  had  taken 
the  whole  thing  out  of  the  hands  of  the  local  author¬ 
ities  into  its  own  management.  Neither  the  town  nor 
the  village  of  Salem  is  responsible,  as  a  principal 
actor,  for  what  subsequently  took  place.  To  that 
meeting  of  the  deputy-governor  and  his  associates 
in  the  colonial  administration,  at  an  early  period  of 
the  transaction,  the  calamities,  outrages,  and  shame 
that  followed  must  in  justice  be  ascribed.  Had  it 
not  taken  place,  the  delusion,  as  in  former  instances 
and  other  places  here  and  ill  the  mother-country, 

8 


VOL.  II. 


114 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


would  have  remained  within  its  original  local  limits, 
and  soon  disappeared.  That  meeting,  and  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  then  had,  gave  to  the  fanaticism  the  momen¬ 
tum  that  drove  it  on,  and  extended  its  destructive 
influence  far  and  wide. 

The  next  step  in  the  proceedings  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  features  in  the  case.  It  is,  in  some  points 
of  view,  more  suggestive  of  suspicion,  that  there  was, 
behind  the  whole,  a  skilful  and  cunning  management, 
ingeniously  contriving  schemes  to  mislead  the  public 
mind,  than  almost  any  other  part  of  the  transaction. 
Mary  Warren,  as  has  been  said,  was  a  servant  in  the 
family  of  John  Procter.  She  was  a  member  of  the 
“  circle  ”  that  had  so  long  met  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house 
or  Thomas  Putnam’s.  She  was  a  constant  attendant 
at  its  meetings,  and  a  leading  spirit  among  the  girls. 
She  did  not  take  an  open  part  against  her  master  or 
mistress  at  their  examination,  although  she  acted 
with  avidity  and  malignity  against  them  as  an  accu¬ 
sing  witness  at  their  trials,  two  months  afterwards. 
It  is  to  be  noticed,  that  Ann  Putnam  and  Abigail 
Williams,  at  the  examination  of  Elizabeth  Procter, 
April  11,  accused  her  of  having  induced  or  com¬ 
pelled  “  her  maid  to  set  her  hand  to  the  book.” 

On  the  18th  of  April,  warrants  were  got  out  against 
Giles  Corey  and  Mary  Warren,  both  of  Salem  Farms ; 
Abigail  Hobbs,  daughter  of  William  ITobbs,  of  Tops- 
field  ;  and  Bridget  Bishop,  wife  of  Edward  Bishop,  of 
Salem,  —  to  be  brought  in  the  next  forenoon,  at  about 
eight  o’clock,  at  the  house  of  Lieutenant  Nathaniel 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


115 


Ingersoll,  of  Salem  Village.  How  Mary  Warren  be¬ 
came  transformed  from  an  accuser  to  an  accused, 
from  an  afflicted  person  to  an  afflicter,  is  tlie  question. 
It  is  not  easy  to  fathom  the  conduct  of  these  girls. 
They  appear  to  have  acted  upon  a  plan  deliberately 
formed,  and  to  have  had  an  understanding  with  each 
other.  At  the  same  time,  occasionally,  they  had  or 
pretended  to  have  a  falling-out,  and  came  into  con¬ 
tradiction.  This  was  perhaps  a  mere  blind,  to  pre¬ 
vent  the  suspicion  of  collusion.  The  accounts  given 
of  Mary  Warren  seem  to  render  it  quite  certain  that 
she  acted  with  deliberate  cunning,  and  was  a  guilty 
conspirator  with  the  other  accusers  in  carrying  on 
the  plot  from  the  beginning.  No  doubt,  it  frequently 
occurred  to  those  concerned  in  it,  that  suspicions 
might  possibly  get  into  currency  that  they  were  acting 
a  part  in  concert.  It  was  necessary,  by  all  means,  to 
guard  against  such  an  idea.  This  may  be  the  key  to 
interpret  the  arrest  and  proceedings  against  Mary 
Warren.  If  it  is,  the  affair,  it  must  be  confessed,  was 
managed  with  great  shrewdness  and  skill.  She  con¬ 
ducted  the  stratagem  most  dexterously.  All  at  once 
she  fell  away  from  the  circle,  and  began  to  talk  against 
the  “  afflicted  children,”  and  went  so  far  as  to  say, 
that  they  “  did  but  dissemble.”  Immediately,  they 
cried  out  upon  her,  charged  her  with  witchcraft,  and 
had  her  apprehended.  After  being  carried  to  prison, 
she  spoke  in  strong  language  against  the  proceedings. 
Four  persons  of  unquestionable  truthfulness,  in  prison 
with  her,  on  the  same  charge,  prepared  a  deposition 


116 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  tliis  effect:  “  We  heard  Mary  Warren  several  times 
say  that  the  magistrates  might  as  well  examine  Key- 
sar’s  daughter  that  had  been  distracted  many  years, 
and  take  notice  of  what  she  said,  as  well  as  any  of  the 
afflicted  persons.  4  For,’  said  Mary  W arren, 4  when  I  was 
afflicted,  I  thought  I  saw  the  apparitions  of  a  hundred 
persons  ;  ’  for  she  said  her  head  wTas  distempered  that 
she  could  not  tell  what  she  said.  And  the  said  Mary 
told  us,  that,  when  she  was  well  again,  she  could  not 
say  that  she  saw  any  of  the  apparitions  at  the  time 
aforesaid.”  I  will  now  give  the  substance  of  her  ex¬ 
amination,  which  commenced  on  the  19tli  of  April. 
Mr.  Parris  was,  as  usual,  requested  to  take  minutes 
of  the  proceedings,  which  have  been  preserved :  — 

“  Examination  of  Mary  Warren ,  at  a  Court  held  at  Salem 

Village ,  by  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan  Corwin ,  Esqrs. 

“  (As  soon  as  she  was  coming  towards  the  bar,  the  afflicted 
fell  into  fits.) 

“Mary  Warren,  you  stand  here  charged  with  sundxy 
acts  of  witchcraft.  What  do  you  say  for  yourself?  Are 
you  guilty  or  not?  —  I  am  innocent. 

“  Hath  she  hurt  you  ?  (Speaking  to  the  sufferers.) 

“  (Some  were  dumb.  Betty  Hubbard  testified  against 
her,  and  then  said  Hubbard  fell  into  a  violent  fit.) 

“  You  were,  a  little  while  ago,  an  afflicted  person  ;  now 
you  are  an  afflicter.  How  comes  this  to  pass  ?  —  I  look 
up  to  God,  and  take  it  to  be  a  great  mercy  of  God. 

“  What !  do  you  take  it  to  be  a  great  mercy  to  afflict 
others  ? 

“  (Now  they  were  all  but  John  Indian  grievously  afflicted, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


117 


and  Mrs.  Pope  also,  who  was  not  afflicted  before  hitherto 
this  day ;  and,  after  a  few  moments,  John  Indian  fell  into 
a  violent  fit  also.)  ” 

“  Well,  here  ”  (Mr.  Parris,  the  reporter,  goes  on 
to  say)  “  was  one  that  just  now  was  a  tormenter  in 
her  apparition,  and  she  owns  that  she  had  made  a 
league  with  the  Devil.”  The  marvel  was,  that,  having 
before  been  a  sufferer,  as  one  of  the  afflicted  accusers, 
she  had  then,  at  that  moment,  appeared  in  the  oppo¬ 
site  character,  and  owned  herself  to  have  become  a 
confederate  with  the  Evil  One.  Having  established 
this  conviction  in  the  minds  of  the  magistrates  and 
spectators,  the  point  was  reached  at  which  she  com¬ 
pleted  the  delusion  by  appearing  to  break  away  from 
her  bondage  to  Satan,  assume  the  functions  of  a  con¬ 
fessing  and  abjuring  witch,  and  retake  her  place,  with 
tenfold  effect,  among  the  accusing  witnesses.  The 
manner  in  which  she  rescued  herself  from  the  power 
of  Satan  exhibits  a  specimen  of  acting  seldom  sur¬ 
passed.  The  account  proceeds  thus  :  — 

“  Now  Mary  Warren  fell  into  a  fit,  and  some  of  the 
afflicted  cried  out  that  she  was  going  to  confess  ;  but  Goody 
Corey,  and  Procter  and  his  Avife,  came  in,  in  their  apparition, 
and  struck  her  down,  and  said  she  should  tell  nothing.” 

What  is  given  here  in  Italics ,  as  an  “  apparition” 
was  of  course  based  upon  the  declarations  of  the 
accusing  witnesses.  It  was  an  art  they  often  prac¬ 
tised  in  offering  their  testimony.  They  would  cry 
out,  that  the  Devil,  generally  in  the  shape  of  a  black 
man,  appeared  to  them  at  the  time,  whispering  in  the 


118 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


car  of  the  accused,  or  sitting  on  the  beams  of  the 
meeting-house  in  which  the  examinations  were  gen¬ 
erally  conducted.  On  this  occasion,  they  declared  that 
three  of  the  persons,  then  in  jail  in  some  other  place, 
came  in  their  apparitions,  forbade  Mary  Warren’s 
confession,  and  struck  her  down.  To  give  full  effect 
to  their  statement,  she  went  through  the  process  of 
tumbling  down.  Although  nothing  was  seen  by  any 
other  person  present,  the  deception  was  perfect.  The 
Rev.  Mr.  Parris  wrote  it  all  down  as  having  actually 
occurred.  His  record  of  the  transaction  goes  on  as 
follows :  — 

“  Mary  Warren  continued  a  good  space  in  a  fit,  that  she 
did  neither  see  nor  hear  nor  speak. 

u  Afterwards  she  started  up,  and  said,  4  I  will  speak,’  and 
cried  out,  4  Oh,  I  am  sorry  for  it,  I  am  sorry  for  it !  ’  and 
wringed  her  hands,  and  fell  a  little  while  into  a  fit  again, 
and  then  came  to  speak,  but  immediately  her  teeth  were 
set ;  and  then  she  fell  into  a  violent  fit,  and  cried  out,  ‘  O 
Lord,  help  me !  0  good  Lord,  save  me  !  ’ 

“  And  then  afterwards  cried  again,  4  I  will  tell,  I  will 
tell !  ’  and  then  fell  into  a  dead  fit  again. 

44  And  afterwards  cried,  4 1  will  tell,  they  did,  they  did, 
they  did  ;  ’  and  then  fell  into  a  violent  fit  again. 

44  After  a  little  recovery,  she  cried,  4 1  will  tell,  I  will  tell. 
They  brought  me  to  it ;  ’  and  then  fell  into  a  fit  again, 
which  fits  continuing,  she  was  ordered  to  be  led  out,  and 
the  next  to  be  brought  in,  viz.,  Bridget  Bishop. 

44  Some  time  afterwards,  she  was  called  in  again,  but 
immediately  taken  with  fits  for  a  while. 

44  4  Have  you  signed  the  Devil’s  book  ?  —  No.’ 


, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


119 


“  ‘  Have  you  not  touched  it  ?  —  No.’ 

“  Then  she  fell  into  fits  again,  and  was  sent  forth  for  air. 

“  After  a  considerable  space  of  time,  she  was  brought  in 
again,  but  could  not  give  account  of  things  by  reason  of  fits, 
and  so  sent  forth. 

“Mary  Warren  called  in  afterwards  in  private,  before 
magistrates  and  ministers. 

“  She  said,  ‘  I  shall  not  speak  a  word  :  but  I  will,  I  will 
speak,  Satan !  She  saitli  she  will  kill  me.  Oh  !  she  saith 
she  owes  me  a  spite,  and  will  claw  me  off.  Avoid  Satan, 
for  the  name  of  God,  avoid!’  and  then  fell  into  fits  again, 
and  cried,  ‘  Will  ye  ?  I  will  prevent  ye,  in  the  name  of 
God.’” 

The  magistrate  inquired  earnestly :  — 

“  ‘  Tell  us  how  far  have  you  yielded  ?  ’ 

“  A  fit  interrupts  her  again. 

“  ‘  What  did  they  say  you  should  do,  and  you  should  be 
well  ?  ’ 

“  Then  her  lips  were  bit,  so  that  she  could  not  speak  : 
so  she  was  sent  away.” 

Mr.  Parris,  the  reporter  of  the  case,  adds  :  — 

“  Note  that  not  one  of  the  sufferers  was  afflicted  during 
her  examination,  after  once  she  began  to  confess,  though 
they  were  tormented  before.” 

She  was  subsequently  examined  in  the  prison 
several  times,  falling  occasionally  into  fits,  and  ex¬ 
hibiting  the  appearance  of  a  long-continued  conflict 
with  Satan,  who  was  supposed  to  be  resisting  her 
inclination  to  confess,  and  holding  her  with  violence 


120 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  the  contract  she  had  made  with  him.  The  magis¬ 
trates  and  ministers  beheld  with  amazement  and  awe 
what  they  believed  to  be  precisely  a  similar  scene  to 
that  described  by  the  evangelists  when  the  Devil  strove 
against  the  power  of  the  Saviour  and  his  disciples, 
and  would  not  quit  his  hold  upon  the  young  man, 
but  “  threw  him  down,  and  tare  him.”  At  length,  as 
in  that  case,  Satan  was  overcome.  After  a  protracted, 
most  violent,  and  terrible  contest,  Mary  Warren  got 
released  from  his  clutches,  and  made  a  full  and  cir¬ 
cumstantial  confession. 

Whoever  studies  carefully  the  account  of  Mary 
Warren’s  successive  examinations  can  hardly  ques¬ 
tion,  I  think,  that  she  acted  a  part,  and  acted  it  with 
wonderful  cunning,  skill,  and  effect. 

This  examination,  beginning  on  Tuesday,  the  19th 
of  April,  continued  after  she  was  committed  to  prison 
in  Salem,  at  the  jail  there,  for  several  days,  and  was 
renewed  at  intervals  until  the  middle  of  May.  After 
she  had  thoroughly  broken  away  from  Satan,  she  re¬ 
vealed  all  that  she  had  seen  and  heard  while  asso¬ 
ciating  with  him  and  his  confederate  subjects :  her 
testimony  was  implicitly  received,  and  it  dealt  death 
and  destruction  in  all  directions.  It  is  a  circumstance 
strongly  confirming  this  view,  that  Mary  Warren  was 
soon  released  from  confinement.  It  was  the  general 
practice  to  keep  those,  who  confessed,  in  prison,  to  retain 
in  that  way  power  over  them,  and  prevent  their  re¬ 
canting  their  confessions.  She  is  found,  by  the  papers 
on  file,  to  have  acted  afterwards,  as  a  capital  witness, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


121 


against  ten  persons,  all  of  whom  were  convicted,  and 
seven  executed.  Besides  these,  she  testified,  with  the 
appearance  of  animosity  and  vindictiveness,  against  her 
master  John  Procter,  and  her  mistress  his  wife ;  thus 
contributing  to  secure  the  conviction  of  both,  and 
the  death  of  the  former.  In  how  many  more  cases 
she  figured  in  the  same  character  and  to  the  same 
effect  is  unknown,  as  the  papers  in  reference  to  only 
a  very  small  proportion  of  them  have  come  down  to 
us.  The  interpretation  I  give  to  the  course  of  Mary 
Warren  exhibits  her  guilt,  and  that  of  those  partici¬ 
pating  in  the  stratagem,  as  of  the  deepest  and  blackest 
dye.  But  it  seems  to  be  the  only  one  which  a  scrutiny 
of  the  details  of  her  examinations,  and  of  the  facts  of 
the  case,  allows  us  to  receive.  The  effect  was  most 
decisive.  The  course  of  the  accusing  children  in 
crying  out  against  one  of  their  own  number  satisfied 
the  public,  and  convinced  still  more  the  magistrates, 
that  they  were  truthful,  honest,  and  upright.  They 
had  before  given  evidence  that  they  paid  no  regard 
to  family  influence  or  eminent  reputation.  They  had 
now  proved  that  they  had  no  partiality  and  no  favor¬ 
itism,  but  were  equally  ready  to  bring  to  light  and  to 
justice  any  of  their  own  circle  who  might  fall  into 
the  snare  of  the  Evil  One,  and  become  confederate 
with  him.  No  dramatic  artist,  no  cunning  impostor, 
ever  contrived  a  more  ingenious  plot ;  and  no  actors 
ever  carried  one  out  better  than  Mary  Warren  and 
the  afflicted  children. 

Giles  Corey  incurred  hostility,  perhaps,  because  his 


122 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


deposition  relating  to  liis  wife  did  not  come  up  to  the 
mark  required.  It  is  also  highly  probable,  that,  though 
incensed  at  her  conduct  at  the  time,  reflection  had 
brought  him  to  his  senses ;  and  that  the  circumstances 
of  her  examination  and  commitment  to  prison  produced 
a  re-action  in  his  mind.  If  so,  he  would  have  been 
apt  to  express  himself  very  freely.  His  examination 
took  place  April  19th,  in  the  meeting-house  at  the 
Village.  The  girls  acted  their  usual  part,  charging 
him,  one  by  one,  with  having  afflicted  them,  and 
proving  it  on  the  spot  by  tortures  and  sufferings. 
After  they  had  severally  got  through,  they  all  joined 
at  once  in  their  demonstrations.  The  report  made 
by  Parris  says,  “  All  the  afflicted  were  seized  now 
with  fits,  and  troubled  with  pinches.  Then  the  Court 
ordered  his  hands  to  be  tied.”  The  magistrates  lost 
all  control  of  themselves,  and  flew  into  a  passion,  ex¬ 
claiming,  “  What !  is  it  not  enough  to  act  witchcraft 
at  other  times,  but  must  you  do  it  now,  in  face 
of  authority  ?  ”  He  seems  to  have  been  profoundly 
affected  by  the  marvellousness  of  the  accusations,  and 
the  exhibition  of  what  to  him  was  inexplicable  in  the 
sufferings  of  the  girls ;  and  all  he  could  say  was,  “  I 
am  a  poor  creature,  and  cannot  help  it.”  —  “  Upon  the 
motion  of  his  head  again,  they  had  their  heads  and 
necks  afflicted.”  The  magistrates,  not  having  recov¬ 
ered  their  composure,  continued  to  pour  their  wrath 
upon  him,  “  Why  do  you  tell  such  wicked  lies  against 
witnesses?”  —  “One  of  his  hands  was  let  go,  and 
several  were  afflicted.  He  held  his  head  on  one  side, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


123 


and  then  the  heads  of  several  of  the  afflicted  were 
held  on  one  side.  He  drew  in  his  cheeks,  and  the 
cheeks  of  some  of  the  afflicted  were  sucked  in.”  Goody 
Bibber  was  on  hand,  and  played  her  accompaniment. 
She  also  uttered  malignant  charges  against  him,  and 
“  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  violent  fit.”  One  of 
Bibber’s  statements  was  that  he  had  called  her  husband 
“  damned  devilish  rogue.”  Through  all  this  outrage, 
Corey  was  firm  in  asserting  his  innocence.  His  lan¬ 
guage  and  manner  were  serious,  and  solemnized  by 
a  sense  of  the  helplessness  of  his  situation  and  the 
wicked  falsehoods  heaped  upon  him.  His  disagree¬ 
ment  with  his  wife  about  the  witchcraft  proceedings 
being  well  known,  the  accusers  endeavored  to  make 
it  out  that  they  had  often  quarrelled.  But  he  insisted 
that  the  only  difference  which  had  before  existed  be¬ 
tween  them  was  a  conflict  of  opinion  on  one  point. 
In  his  family  devotions,  he  used  this  expression,  “  liv¬ 
ing  to  God  and  dying  to  sin.”  She  “  found  fault  ”  with 
the  language,  and  criticised  it.  He  thought  it  was  all 
right !  The  characteristic  spirit  of  the  old  man  was 
roused  most  strikingly  by  one  of  the  charges.  Bib¬ 
ber  and  others  testified  that  Corey  had  said  he  had 
seen  the  Devil  in  the  shape  of  a  black  hog,  and 
was  very  much  frightened.  He  could  not  stand 
under  the  imputation  of  cowardice,  and  lost  sight  of 
every  other  element  in  the  accusation  but  that.  The 
magistrate  asked,  “  What  did  you  see  in  the  cow¬ 
house  ?  Why  do  you  deny  it?”  —  “I  saw  nothing 
but  my  cattle.”  —  “  (Divers  witnessed  that  he  told 


124 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


them  he  was  frighted.)”  —  “Well,  what  do  you  say 
to  these  witnesses  ?  What  was  it  frighted  you  ?  ”  — 
“  I  do  not  know  that  ever  I  spoke  the  word  in  my 
life.” 

But  while  his  character  retained  its  manliness,  and 
his  soul  was  truly  insensible  to  fear,  he  was  very 
much  oppressed  and  distressed  by  his  situation.  The 
share  he  had,  with  two  of  his  sons-in-law,  in  bringing 
his  wife  into  her  awful  condition,  and  in  driving  on 
the  public  infatuation  at  the  beginning,  was  more  than 
he  could  endure  to  think  of,  and  he  was  charged  with 
having  meditated  suicide.  Perhaps  he  had  already 
formed  the  purpose  afterwards  carried  into  effect,  and 
may  have  dropped  expressions,  under  that  thought, 
which  to  others  might  appear  to  indicate  a  design  of  self- 
destruction.  He  was  accused  of  having  said  that  “  he 
would  make  away  with  himself,  and  charge  his  death 
upon  his  son.”  His  sons-in-law,  Crosby  and  Parker, 
were  acting  with  the  crowd  that  were  pursuing  him 
to  his  death.  Little  did  it  enter  the  imagination  of 
any  one  then,  that  there  was  a  method  by  which  he 
could  “  make  away  with  himself,”  leaving  the  entire 
act  of  the  destruction  of  his  life  upon  his  persecutors, 
and  the  sin  to  be  apportioned  between  him  and  them 
by  the  All-wise  and  All-just. 

Abigail  Hobbs  had  been  a  reckless  vagrant  creature, 
wandering  through  the  woods  at  night  like  a  half- 
deranged  person ;  but  she  had  wit  enough  to  see  that 
there  was  safety  in  confession.  She  pretended  to 
have  committed,  by  witchcraft,  crimes  enough  to  have 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


125 


hanged  her  a  dozen  times.  If  she  had  stood  to  her 
confession,  we  should  have  heard  of  her  no  more. 

Bridget  Bishop’s  examination  filled  the  intervals  of 
time  while  Mary  Warren  was  being  carried  out  of  the 
meeting-house  to  recover  from  her  fits.  Both  Parris 
and  Ezekiel  Cheever  took  minutes  of  it,  from  which 
the  substance  is  gathered  as  follows :  — 

On  her  coming  in,  the  afflicted  persons,  at  the  same 
moment,  severally  fell  into  fits,  and  were  dreadfully 
tormented.  Hathorne  addressed  her,  calling  upon  her 
to  give  an  account  of  the  witchcrafts  she  was  “  con¬ 
versant  in.”  She  replied,  “  I  take  all  this  people  to 
witness  that  I  am  clear.”  He  then  asked  the  chil¬ 
dren,  “  Hath  this  woman  hurt  you  ?  ”  They  all  cried 
out  that  she  had.  The  magistrate  continued,  “  You 
are  here  accused  by  four  or  five :  what  do  you  say  to 
it ?  ”  —  “I  never  saw  these  persons  before,  nor  I 
never*  was  in  this  place  before.  I  never  did  hurt 
them  in  my  life.” 

At  a  meeting  of  the  afflicted  children  and  others, 
some  one  declared  that  Bridget  Bishop  was  present  “  in 
her  shape  ”  or  apparition,  and,  pointing  to  a  particular 
spot,  said,  “  There,  there  she  is  !  ”  Young  Jonathan 
Walcot,  exasperated  by  his  sister’s  sufferings,  struck  at 
the  spot  with  his  sword ;  whereupon  Mary  cried  out, 
“  You  have  hit  her,  you  have  torn  her  coat,  and  I  heard 
it  tear.”  This  story  had  been  brought  to  Hathorne’ 6 
ears ;  and  abruptly,  as  if  to  take  her  off  her  guard, 

*  The  double  negative,  as  often  used,  merely  intensified  the  nega¬ 
tion.  See  “  Measure  for  Measure,”  act  i.  scene  1. 


126 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


he  said,  “  Is  not  your  coat  cut  ?  ”  She  answered, 
“  No.”  They  then  examined  the  coat,  and  found  what 
they  regarded  as  having  been  “  cut  or  torn  two  ways.” 
It  was  probably  the  fashion  in  which  the  garment  was 
made  ;  for  she  was  in  the  habit  of  dressing  more  artis¬ 
tically  than  the  women  of  the  Village.  At  any  rate, 
it  did  not  appear  like  a  direct  cut  of  a  sword ;  but 
Jonathan  got  over  the  difficulty  by  saying  that  “  the 
sword  that  he  struck  at  Goody  Bishop  was  not  naked, 
but  was  within  the  scabbard.”  This  explained  the 
whole  matter,  so  that  Cheever  says,  in  his  report, 
that  “  the  rent  may  very  probably  be  the  very  same 
that  Mary  Walcot  did  tell  that  she  had  in  her  coat, 
by  Jonathan’s  striking  at  her  appearance  ”  !  Parris 
says,  with  more  caution,  more  indeed  than  was  usual 
with  him,  “  Upon  some  search  in  the  Court,  a  rent, 
that  seems  to  answer  what  was  alleged,  was  found.” 

Hathorne,  having  heard  the  scandals  they  had  cir¬ 
culated  against  her,  proceeded :  “  They  say  you  be¬ 
witched  your  first  husband  to  death.”  —  “  If  it  please 
Your  Worship,  I  know  nothing  of  it.”  —  “What  do 
you  say  of  these  murders  you  are  charged  with  ?  ” 
—  “I  hope  I  am  not  guilty  of  murder.”  As  she  said 
this,  she  turned  up  her  eyes,  probably  to  give  solem¬ 
nity  to  her  declaration.  At  the  opening  of  the  ex¬ 
amination,  she  looked  round  upon  the  people,  and 
called  them  to  witness  her  innocence.  She  had  found 
out  by  this  time,  that  no  justice  could  be  expected  from 
them ;  and  feeling,  with  Rebecca  Nurse  on  a  recent 
similar  occasion,  “  I  have  got  nobody  to  look  to  but 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


127 


God,”  she  turned  her  eyes  heavenward.  Instantly,  the 
eyeballs  of  all  the  girls  were  rolled  up  in  their  sockets, 
and  fixed.  The  effect  was  awful,  and  still  more  in¬ 
creased  as  they  went,  after  a  moment  or  two,  into 
dreadful  torments.  Hathorne  could  no  longer  con¬ 
tain  himself,  but  broke  out,  “  Do  you  not  see  how  they 
are  tormented  ?  You  are  acting  witchcraft  before  us  ! 
What  do  you  say  to  this  ?  Why  have  you  not  a  heart 
to  confess  the  truth  ?  ”  She  calmly  replied,  “  I  am 
innocent.  I  know  nothing  of  it.  I  am  no  witch.  I 
know  not  what  a  witch  is.”  The  “  afflicted  children  ” 
charged  her  with  having  tried  to  persuade  them  to  sign 
the  Devil’s  book.  As  she  had  never  before  seen  one  of 
them,  she  was  indignant  at  this  barefaced  falsehood, 
and,  as  Cheever  says,  “  shook  her  head  ”  in  her  resent¬ 
ment  ;  which,  as  he  further  says,  put  them  all  into  great 
torments.  Parris  represents  that  in  every  motion  of 
her  head  they  were  tortured.  Marshal  Herrick,  as 
usual,  put  in  his  oar,  and  volunteered  charges  against 
her.  She  bore  herself  well  through  the  shocking  scene, 
and  did  not  shrink,  at  its  close,  from  expressing  her 
unbelief  of  the  whole  thing :  “  I  do  not  know  whether 
there  be  any  witches  or  no.”  When  she  was  removed 
from  the  place  of  examination,  the  accusers  all  had 
fits,  and  broke  forth  in  outcries  of  agony.  After  being 
taken  out,  one  of  the  constables  in  charge  of  her  asked 
her  if  she  was  not  troubled  to  see  the  afflicted  per¬ 
sons  so  tormented  ;  and  she  replied,  “No.”  In  answer 
to  further  questions,  she  indicated  that  she  could  not 


128 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


tell  wliat  to  think  of  them,  and  did  not  concern  her¬ 
self  about  them  at  all. 

Giles  Corey,  Bridget  Bishop,  Abigail  Hobbs,  together 
with  Mary  Warren,  were  duly  committed  to  prison. 

Two  days  after,  April  21,  warrants  were  issued 
“  against  William  Hobbs,  husbandman,  and  Deliver¬ 
ance  his  wife;  Nehemiah  Abbot,  Jr.,  weaver;  Mary 
Easty,  the  wife  of  Isaac  Easty ;  and  Sarah  Wilds,  the 
wife  of  John  Wilds,  —  all  of  the  town  of  Topsfield,  or 
Ipswich  ;  and  Edward  Bishop,  husbandman,  and  Sarah 
his  wife,  of  Salem  Village  ;  and  Mary  Black,  a  negro  of 
Lieutenant  Nathaniel  Putnam’s,  of  Salem  Village  also  ; 
and  Mary  English,  the  wife  of  Philip  English,  merchant 
in  Salem.”  All  of  them  were  to  be  delivered  to  the 
magistrates  for  examination  at  the  house  of  Lieu- 
tenant  Nathaniel  Ingersoll,  at  about  ten  o’clock  the 
next  morning,  in  Salem  Village ;  and  were  brought 
in  accordingly. 

What  the  papers  on  file  enable  us  to  glean  of  these 
nine  persons  is  substantially  as  follows :  William 
Hobbs  was  about  fifty  years  of  age,  and  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  of  the  Village,  although  his  resi¬ 
dence  was  on  the  territory  afterwards  included  in 
Topsfield.  His  daughter  Abigail,  of  whom  I  have 
just  spoken,  appears  from  all  the  accounts  to  have 
acted  at  this  stage  of  the  transaction  a  most  wicked 
part,  ready  to  do  all  the  mischief  in  her  power,  and 
allowing  herself  to  be  used  to  any  extent  to  fasten 
the  imputation  of  witchcraft  upon  others.  Several 
persons  testified  that,  long  before,  she  had  boasted  that 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  129 

slie  was  not  afraid  of  any  thing,  “  for  she  had  sold 
herself  body  and  soul  to  the  Old  Boy ;  ”  one  witness 
testified,  that,  “  some  time  last  winter,  I  was  dis¬ 
coursing  with  Abigail  Hobbs  about  her  wicked  car¬ 
riages  and  disobedience  to  her  father  and  mother, 
and  she  told  me  she  did  not  care  what  anybody  said  to 
her,  for  she  had  seen  the  Devil,  and  had  made  a  cove¬ 
nant  or  bargain  with  him  ;  ”  another,  Margaret  Knight, 
testified,  that,  about  a  year  before,  “  Abigail  Hobbs 
and  her  mother  were  at  my  father’s  house,  and  Abi¬ 
gail  Hobbs  said  to  me,  ‘  Margaret,  are  you  baptized  ?  ’ 
And  I  said,  ‘  Y  es.’  Then  said  she,  ‘  My  mother  is 
not  baptized,  but  I  will  baptize  her  ;  ’  and  immediately 
took  water,  and  sprinkled  in  her  mother’s  face,  and 
said  she  did  baptize  her  ‘  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost.’  ” 

She  was  arrested,  and  brought  to  the  Village,  on  the 
19th  of  April.  The  next  day,  she  began  her  opera¬ 
tions  by  declaring  that  “  Judah  White,  a  Jersey  maid  ” 
that  lived  with  Joseph  Ingersoll  at  Casco,  “  but  now 
lives  at  Boston,”  appeared  to  her  “  in  apparition  ”  the 
day  before,  and  advised  her  to  “  fly,  and  not  to  go  to 
be  examined,”  but,  if  she  did  go,  “  not  to  confess  any 
thing:  ”  she  described  the  dress  of  this  “  apparition,” 
—  she  “came  to  her  in  fine  clothes,  in  a  sad-colored 
silk  mantle,  with  a  top-knot  and  a  hood.”  —  “  She  con- 
fesseth  further,  that  the  Devil  in  the  shape  of  a  man 
came  to  her,”  and  charged  her  to  afflict  the  girls ; 
bringing  images  made  of  wood  in  their  likeness  with 
thorns  for  her  to  prick  into  the  images,  which  she 

9 


VOL.  II. 


130 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


did  :  whereupon  the  girls  cried  out  that  they  were  hurt 
by  her.  She  further  confessed,  that,  “  she  was  at  the 
great  meeting  in  Mr.  Parris’s  pasture,  when  they  ad¬ 
ministered  the  sacrament,  and  did  eat  of  the  red  bread 
and  drink  of  the  red  wine,  at  the  same  time.”  This 
confession  established  her  credibility  at  once ;  and, 
the  next  day,  the  warrants  were  issued  for  the  nine 
persons  above  mentioned,  against  whom  they  had 
secured  in  her  an  effective  witness.  She  had  resided 
for  some  time  at  Casco  Bay ;  and  we  shall  soon  see 
how  matters  began  in  a  few  days  to  work  in  that  direc¬ 
tion.  There  are  two  indictments  against  this  Abigail 
Hobbs :  one  charging  her  with  having  made  a  cove¬ 
nant  with  “  the  Evil  Spirit,  the  Devil,”  at  Casco  Bay, 
in  1688  ;  the  other  with  having  exercised  the  arts  of 
witchcraft  upon  the  afflicted  girls,  at  Salem  Village, 
in  1692. 

When  her  unhappy  father  was  brought  to  examina¬ 
tion,  he  found  that  his  daughter  was  playing  into  the 
hands  of  the  accusers  ,  and  that  his  wife,  overwhelmed 
by  the  horrors  of  the  situation,  although  for  a  time 
protesting  her  innocence  and  lamenting  that  she  had 
been  the  mother  of  such  a  daughter,  had  broken 
down  and  confessed,  saying  whatever  might  be  put 
in  her  mouth  by  the  magistrates,  the  girls,  or  the 
crowd.  Under  these  circumstances,  he  was  brought 
forward  for  examination.  Parris  took  minutes  of  it. 
It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  the  paper  is  much  dilapidated, 
and  portions  of  the  lines  wholly  lost.  What  is  left 
shows  that  the  mind  of  William  Hobbs  rose  superior 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


131 


to  the  terrors  and  powers  arrayed  against  it.  The 
magistrate  commenced  proceedings  bjr  inquiring  of  the 
girls,  pointing  to  the  prisoner,  “  Hath  this  man  hurt 
you  ?  ”  Several  of  them  answered  “  Yes.”  Goody 
Bibber,  who  seems  generally  to  have  been  a  very 
zealous  volunteer  backer  of  the  girls,  on  this  occasion, 
for  a  wonder,  answered  “  No.”  The  magistrate,  ad¬ 
dressing  the  prisoner,  “  What  say  you  ?  Are  you 
guilty  or  not  ?  ”  —  Answer  :  “  I  can  speak  in  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  God  safely,  as  I  must  look  to  give  account 
another  day,  that  I  am  as  clear  as  a  new-born  babe?  ” 
—  “  Clear  of  what  ?  ”  —  “  Of  witchcraft.”  —  “  Have 
you  never  hurt  these?”  —  “No.”  Abigail  Williams 
cried  out  that  he  “  was  going  to  Mercy  Lewis !  ” 
Whereupon  Mercy  was  seized  with  a  fit.  Then  Abigail 
cried  out  again,  “He  is  coming  to  Mary  Walcot!” 
and  Mary  went  into  her  fit.  The  magistrate,  in  con¬ 
sternation,  appealed  to  him :  “  How  can  you  be  clear,” 
when  your  appearance  is  thus  seen  producing  such 
effects  before  our  eyes  ?  Then  the  children  went 
into  fits  all  together,  and  “  hallooed  ”  at  the  top 
of  their  voices,  and  “shouted  greatly.”  The  magis¬ 
trate  then  brought  up  the  confession  of  his  wife 
against  him,  and  expostulated  with  him  for  not  con¬ 
fessing  ;  the  afflicted,  in  the  mean  while,  bringing  the 
whole  machinery  of  their  convulsions,  shrieks,  and 
uproar  to  bear  against  him :  but  he  calmly,  and  in 
brief  terms,  denied  it. 

The  circle  of  accusing  girls  seems  to  have  been  a 
receptacle,  into  which  all  the  scandal,  gossip,  and 


132 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


defamation  of  the  surrounding  country  was  emptied. 
Some  one  had  told  them  that  William  Hobbs  was  not 
a  regular  attendant  at  meeting.  They  passed  it  on  to 
the  magistrate,  and  he  put  this  question  to  the  accused  : 
“  When  were  you  at  any  public  religious  meeting  ?  ” 
He  replied,  “  Not  a  pretty  while.”  —  “  Why  so  ?  ” 

—  “Because  I  was  not  well:  I  had  a  distemper  that 
none  knows.  ”  The  magistrate  said,  “  Can  you  act 
witchcraft  here,  and,  by  casting  your  eyes,  turn  folks 
into  fits?”  —  “You  may  judge  your  pleasure.  My 
soul  is  clear.”  —  “Do  you  not  see  you  hurt  these  by 
your  look  ?  ”  —  “  No  :  I  do  not  know  it.”  After 
another  display  of  awful  sufferings,  caused,  as  they 
protested,  by  the  mere  look  of  Hobbs,  the  magistrate, 
with  triumphant  confidence,  again  put  it  home  to  him, 
“Can  you  now  deny  it?”  He  answered,  “I  can 
deny  it  to  my  dying  day.”  The  magistrate  inquired 
of  him  for  what  reason  he  withdrew  from  the  room 
whenever  the  Scriptures  were  read  in  his  family.  He 
plumply  denied  it.  Nathaniel  Ingersoll  and  Thomas 
Haynes  testified  that  his  daughter  had  told  them 
so.  The  confessions  of  his  wife  and  daughter  were 
over  and  over  again  brought  up  against  him,  but  to 
no  effect.  “  Who  do  you  worship  ?  ”  said  the  magis¬ 
trate.  “I  hope  I  worship  God  only.”  —  “Where?” 

—  “In  my  heart.”  The  examination  failed  to  con¬ 
found  or  embarrass  him  in  the  least.  He  could  not 
be  drawn  into  the  expression  of  any  of  the  feelings 
which  the  conduct  of  his  graceless  and  depraved 
daughter  or  his  weak  and  wretched  wife  must  have 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


133 


excited.  He  quietly  protested  that  he  knew  nothing 
about  witchcraft ;  and,  towards  the  close,  with  solemn 
earnestness  of  utterance,  declared  that  his  innocence 
was  known  to  the  “  great  God  in  heaven.” 

He  was  committed  for  trial.  All  that  the  docu¬ 
ments  in  existence  inform  us  further,  in  relation  to 
William  Hobbs,  is  that  he  remained  in  prison  until 
the  14th  of  the  next  December,  when  two  of  his  neigh¬ 
bors,  John  Nichols  and  Joseph  Towne,  in  some  way 
succeeded  in  getting  him  bailed  out ;  they  giving  bonds 
in  the  sum  of  two  hundred  pounds  for  his  appear¬ 
ance  at  the  sessions  of  the  Court  the  next  month. 
But  it  was  not,  even  then,  thought  wholly  safe  to 
have  him  come  in ;  and  the  fine  was  incurred.  He 
appeared  at  the  term  in  May,  the  fine  was  remitted, 
and  he  discharged  by  proclamation.  On  the  26th  of 
March,  1714,  he  gave  evidence  in  a  case  of  common- 
age  rights.  He  was  then  seventy-two  years  of  age. 
Of  his  wife  and  daughter,  I  shall  again  have  occasion 
to  speak. 

For  all  that  is  known  of  the  case  of  Neliemiah 
Abbot,  we  are  indebted  to  Hutchinson,  who  had 
Parris’s  minutes  of  the  examination  before  him. 
Hutchinson  says,  that,  of  “  near  an  hundred  ”  whose 
examinations  he  had  seen,  he  was  the  only  one  who, 
having  been  brought  before  the  magistrates,  was  finally 
dismissed  by  them.  Perhaps  even  this  case  was  not 
an  exception  :  for  a  document  on  file  shows  that  a 
person  named  Abbot  of  the  same  locality  was  sub¬ 
sequently  arrested  and  imprisoned ;  but  unfortunately 


134 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  Christian  name  has  been  obliterated,  or  from 
some  cause  is  wanting.  It  seems,  from  Hutchinson’s 
minutes,  that  he  protested  his  innocence  in  manly 
and  firm  declarations.  Mary  Walcot  testified  that  she 
had  seen  his  shape.  Ann  Putnam  cried  out  that  she 
saw  him  “  upon  the  beam.”  The  magistrates  told 
him  that  his  guilt  was  certainly  proved,  and  that,  if 
he  would  find  mercy  of  God,  he  must  confess.  “  I 
speak  before  God,”  he  answered,  “  that  I  am  clear 
from  this  accusation.”  —  “What,  in  all  respects?” 
—  “Yes,  in  all  respects.”  The  girls  were  struck 
with  dumbness ;  and  Ann  Putnam,  re-affirming  that 
he  was  the  man  that  hurt  her,  “  was  taken  with  a 
fit.”  Mary  Walcot  began  to  waver  in  her  confidence, 
and  Mercy  Lewis  said,  “  It  is  not  the  man.”  This 
unprecedented  variance  in  the  testimony  of  the  girls 
brought  matters  to  a  stand ;  and  he  was  sent  out  for 
a  time,  while  others  were  examined  :  — 

“  When  he  was  brought  in  again,  by  reason  of  much 
people,  and  many  in  the  windows,  so  that  the  accusers 
could  not  have  a  clear  view  of  him,  he  was  ordered  to  be 
abroad,  and  the  accusers  to  go  forth  to  him,  and  view  him 
in  the  light,  which  they  did  in  the  presence  of  the  magis¬ 
trates  and  many  others,  discoursed  quietly  with  him,  one 
and  all  acquitting  him;  but  yet  said  he  was  like  that  man, 
but  he  had  not  the  wen  they  saw  in  his  apparition.  Note, 
he  was  a  hilly-faced  man,  and  stood  shaded  by  reason  of  his 
own  hair ;  so  that  for  a  time  he  seemed  to  some  bystanders 
and  observers  to  be  considerably  like  the  person  the  afflicted 
did  describe.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


135 


Such  is  Parris’s  statement,  as  quoted  by  Hutchin¬ 
son.  What  was  the  real  cause  or  motive  of  this  dis¬ 
crepancy  among  the  witnesses  does  not  appear.  The 
facts,  that  at  first  they  went  into  fits  in  beholding  him, 
were  all  struck  dumb  for  a  while,  and  Ann  Put¬ 
nam  saw  him  on  the  beam,  were  likely  to  have  an 
unfavorable  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  and 
threatened  to  explode  the  delusion.  But  Ann,  with 
a  quickness  of  wit  that  never  failed  to  meet  any  emer¬ 
gency,  when  Mercy  Lewis  said  it  was  not  the  man, 
cried  out  in  a  fit,  “  Did  you  put  a  mist  before  my 
eyes  ?  ”  She  conveyed  the  idea  that  the  power  of 
Satan  blinded  her,  and  caused  her  to  mistake  the 
man.  This  answered  the  purpose  ;  and,  although  Abbot 
got  clear,  for  the  time  at  least,  all  were  more  than 
ever  convinced  that  the  Evil  One,  in  misleading  Ann, 
had  shown  his  hand  on  the  occasion. 

The  examination  of  Sarah  Wildes  had  no  peculiar 
features.  The  afflicted  children  and  Goody  Bibber 
saw  her  apparition  sitting  on  the  beam  while  she 
was  bodily  present  at  the  bar,  and  went  through  their 
usual  fits  and  evolutions.  She  maintained  her  inno¬ 
cence  with  dignity  and  firmness  ;  and  the  magistrate, 
prejudging  the  case  against  her,  rebuked  her  obsti¬ 
nacy  in  not  confessing,  in  his  accustomed  manner. 

No  account  has  come  down  of  the  examinations  of 
Edward  Bishop,  or  Sarah  his  wife.  He  was  the  third 
of  that  name,  probably  the  son  of  the  “  Sawyer.” 
His  wife  Sarah  was  a  daughter  of  William  Wildes 
of  Ipswich,  and,  it  would  seem,  a  sister  of  John 


136 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Wildes,  the  examination  of  whose  wife  has  just  been 
mentioned.  Some  of  the  evidence  indicates  that  she 
was  a  niece  of  Rebecca  Nurse.  They  all  belonged 
to  that  class  of  persons  who,  under  the  general  appella¬ 
tion  of  “  the  Topsfield  men,”  had  been  in  such  frequent 
collision  with  the  people  of  the  Village.  Edward 
Bishop  was  forty-four  years  of  age,  and  his  wife  forty- 
one.  They  had  a  family,  at  the  time  of  their  imprison¬ 
ment,  of  twelve  children.  Sarah  Bishop  had  been 
dismissed  from  the  church  at  the  Village,  and  rec¬ 
ommended  to  that  at  Topsfield,  May  25,  1690.  They 
had  land  in  Topsfield,  as  well  as  in  the  Village,  and 
were  more  intimately  connected  in  social  relations  with 
the  former  than  the  latter  place.  They  effected  their 
escape  from  prison,  and  survived  the  storm.  Mary, 
the  wife  of  Philip  English,  was  committed  to  prison. 
We  have  no  record  of  her  examination. 

Mary  Black,  the  negro  woman,  belonged  to  Na¬ 
thaniel  Putnam,  but  lived  in  the  family  of  his  son 
Benjamin.  Her  examination  shows  that  she  was  an 
ignorant  but  an  innocent  person.  She  knew  nothing 
about  the  matter,  and  had  no  idea  what  it  all  meant. 
To  the  questions  with  which  the  magistrate  pressed 
her,  her  answers  were,  “  I  do  not  know,”  “  I  cannot 
tell.”  The  only  fact  brought  out  against  her  besides 
the  actings  of  the  girls  was  this :  “  Her  master  saith 
a  man  sat  down  upon  the  form  with  her  about  a 
twelvemonth  ago.”  Parris,  in  his  minutes,  gives  this 
piece  of  evidence,  but  does  not  enlighten  us  as  to  its 
import.  The  magistrate  asked  her,  “  What  did  the  man 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


137 


say  to  you  ?  ”  Her  answer  was. :  “  He  said  nothing'.” 
This  is  all  they  got  out  of  her ;  and  it  is  all  the  light 
we  have  on  the  mysterious  fact,  that  a  man  was  once 
seated,  at  some  time  within  twelve  months,  on  the 
same  form  or  bench  with  poor  Mary  Black.  •  The 
magistrate  asked  the  girls,  “  Doth  this  negro  hurt 
you  ?  ”  They  said  “  Yes.”  —  “  Why  do  you  hurt 
them  ?  ”  —  “I  did  not  hurt  them.”  This  question  was 
put  to  her,  “  Do  you  prick  sticks  ?  ”  perhaps  the 
meaning  was,  Do  you  prick  the  afflicted  children 
with  sticks  ?  The  simple  creature  evidently  did  not 
know  what  they  were  driving  at,  and  answered,  “  No : 
I  pin  my  neckcloth.”  The  examiner  asked  her, 
“  Will  you  take  out  the  pin,  and  pin  it  again  ?  ”  She 
did  so,  and  several  of  the  afflicted  cried  out  that  they 
were  pricked.  Mary  Walcot  was  pricked  in  the  arm 
till  the  blood  came,  Abigail  Williams  was  pricked 
in  the  stomach,  and  Mercy  Lewis  was  pricked  in  the 
foot.  It  is  probable,  that,  in  this  case,  the  girls,  as 
they  often  appear  to  have  done,  provided  themselves 
by  concert  beforehand  with  pins  ready  to  be  stuck 
into  the  assigned  parts  of  their  bodies,  and  managed 
to  get  the  queer  and  unusual  question  put.  The 
whole  thing  has  the  appearance  of  being  pre-arranged  ; 
and  it  answered  the  purpose,  filling  the  crowd  with 
amazement,  and  excluding  all  possible  doubt  from  the 
minds  of  the  magistrates.  Mary  was  committed  to 
prison,  where  she  remained  until  discharged,  in  May, 
1693,  by  proclamation  from  the  governor. 

Mary  Easty,  wife  of  Isaac  Easty,  and  sister  of  Re- 


138 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


becca  Nurse  and  Sarah  Cloyse,  was  about  fifty-eight 
years  of  age,  and  the  mother  of  seven  children.  Her 
husband  owned  and  lived  upon  a  large  and  valuable 
farm,  which  not  many  years  since  was  the  property 
and  country  residence  of  the  late  Hon.  B.  W.  Crown- 
inshield,  and  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Thomas 
Pierce,  Esq.  Her  examination  was  accompanied  by 
the  usual  circumstances.  The  girls  had  fits,  and  were 
speechless  at  times :  the  magistrate  expostulated  with 
her  for  not  confessing  her  guilt,  which  he  regarded 
as  demonstrated,  beyond  a  question,  by  the  sufferings 
of  the  afflicted.  “Would  you  have  me  accuse  my¬ 
self?” —  “How  far,”  he  continued,  “have  you  com¬ 
plied  with  Satan  ?  ”  —  “  Sir,  I  never  complied,  but 
prayed  against  him  all  my  days.  What  would  you 
have  me  do?”  —  “Confess,  if  you  be  guilty.”  —  “I 
will  say  it,  if  it  was  my  last  time,  I  am  clear  of 
this  sin.”  The  magistrate,  apparently  affected  by  her 
manner  and  bearing,  inquired  of  the  girls,  “  Are  you 
certain  this  is  the  woman  ?  ”  They  all  went  into  fits  ; 
and  presently  Ann  Putnam,  coming  to  herself,  said 
“  that  was  the  woman,  it  was  like  her,  and  she  told  me 
her  name.”  The  accused  clasped  her  hands  together, 
and  Mercy  Lewis’s  hands  were  clenched ;  she  sepa¬ 
rated  her  hands,  and  Mercy’s  were  released ;  she  in¬ 
clined  her  head,  and  the  girls  screamed  out,  “  Put  up 
her  head ;  for,  while  her  head  is  bowed,  the  necks  of 
these  are  broken.”  The  magistrate  again  asked,  “  Is 
this  the  woman  ?  ”  They  made  signs  that  they  could 
not  speak ;  but  afterwards  Ann  Putnam  and  others 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


139 


cried  out :  “  0  Goody  Easty,  Goody  Easty,  you  are 
the  woman,  you  are  the  woman !”  —  “  What  do  you 
say  to  this  ?  ”  —  “  Why,  God  will  know.”  —  “  Nay,  God 
knows  now.”  —  “  I  know  he  does.”  —  “  What  did  you 
think  of  the  actions  of  others  before  your  sisters  came 
out?  did  you  think  it  was  witchcraft?”  —  “I  cannot 
tell.” — “Why  do  you  not  think  it  is  witchcraft?” 
—  “It  is  an  evil  spirit;  but  whether  it  be  witchcraft 
I  do  not  know.”  She  was  committed  to  prison. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  seven  out  of  the  nine  exam¬ 
ined  at  this  time  either  lived  in  Topsfield  or  were 
intimately  connected  with  the  church  and  people  there. 
The  accusing  girls  had  heard  them  angrily  spoken  of 
by  the  people  around  them,  and  availed  themselves, 
as  at  all  times,  of  existing  prejudices,  to  guide  them 
in  the  selection  of  their  victim. 

The  escape  of  Abbot,  and  the  wavering,  in  his  case 
and  that  of  Easty,  indicated  by  the  magistrates  on  this 
occasion,  alarmed  the  prosecutors ;  and  they  felt  that 
something  must  be  done  to  stiffen  Hathorne  and  Cor¬ 
win  to  their  previous  rigid  method  of  procedure.  The 
following  letter  was  accordingly  written  to  them  that 
very  day,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  examina¬ 
tions  :  — 

“  These  to  the  Honored  John  Hathorne  and  Jonathan  Corwin , 
Esqrs .,  living  at  Salem,  present. 

“  Salem  Village,  this  21st  of  April,  1692. 

“  Much  Honored,  —  After  most  humble  and  hearty 
thanks  presented  to  Your  Honors  for  the  great  care  and 
pains  you  have  already  taken  for  us,  —  for  which  you  know 


140 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


we  are  never  able  to  make  you  recompense,  and  we  believe 
you  do  not  expect  it  of  us  ;  therefore  a  full  reward  will  be 
given  you  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  whose  cause  and  in¬ 
terest  you  have  espoused  (and  we  trust  this  shall  add  to 
your  crown  of  glory  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus)  :  and 
we  —  beholding  continually  the  tremendous  works  of  Divine 
Providence,  not  only  every  day,  but  every  hour  —  thought  it 
our  duty  to  inform  Your  Honors  of  what  we  conceive  you 
have  not  heard,  which  are  high  and  dreadful,  —  of  a  wheel 
within  a  wheel,  at  which  our  ears  do  tingle.  Humbly  crav¬ 
ing  continually  your  prayers  and  help  in  this  distressed  case, 
—  so,  praying  Almighty  God  continually  to  prepare  you, 
that  you  may  be  a  terror  to  evil-doers  and  a  praise  to  them 
that  do  well,  we  remain  yours  to  serve  in  what  we  are  able, 

“  Thomas  Putnam.” 

What  was  meant  by  the  “  wheel  within  a  wheel,” 
the  “  high  ancl  dreadful  ”  things  which  were  making 
their  ears  to  tingle,  hut  had  not  yet  been  disclosed 
to  the  magistrates,  we  shall  presently  see.  On  the 
30th  of  April,  Captain  Jonathan  Walcot  and  Sergeant 
Thomas  Putnam  (the  writer  of  the  foregoing  letter) 
got  out  a  warrant  against  Philip  English,  of  Salem, 
merchant ;  Sarah  Morrel,  of  Beverly ;  and  Dorcas 
Hoar,  of  the  same  place,  widow.  Morrel  and  Hoar 
were  delivered  by  Marshal  Herrick,  according  to  the 
tenor  of  the  warrant,  at  11,  a.m.,  May  2,  at  the  house 
of  Lieutenant  Nathaniel  Ingersoll,  in  Salem  Village. 
The  warrant  has  an  indorsement  in  these  words  : 
“  Mr.  Philip  English  not  being  to  be  found.  G.  H.” 
As  the  records  of  the  examinations  of  Philip  English 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


141 


and  his  wife  have  not  been  preserved,  and  only  a  few 
fragments  of  the  testimony  relating  to  their  case  are 
to  be  found,  all  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  girls  and 
their  accomplices  made  their  usual  charges  against 
them.  There  are  two  depositions  in  existence,  how¬ 
ever,  which  afford  some  explanation  of  the  causes  that 
exposed  Mr.  English  to  hostility,  and  indicate  the  kind 
of  evidence  that  was  brought  against  him.  Having 
many  landed  estates,  in  various  places,  and  extensive 
business  transactions,  he  was  liable  to  frequent  ques¬ 
tions  of  litigation.  He  was  involved,  at  one  time,  in 
a  lawsuit  about  the  bounds  of  a  piece  of  land  in 
Marblehead.  A  person  named  William  Beale,  of  that 
town,  had  taken  great  interest  in  it  adversely  to  the 
claims  of  English ;  and  some  harsh  words  passed 
between  them.  A  year  or  two  after  the  affair,  Beale 
states,  “  that,  as  I  lay  in  my  bed,  in  the  morning,  pres¬ 
ently  after  it  was  fair  light  abroad  in  the  room,” 
“  I  saw  a  dark  shade,”  &c.  To  his  vision  it  soon 
assumed  the  shape  of  Philip  English.  On  a  previ¬ 
ous  occasion,  when  riding  through  Lynn  to  get  testi¬ 
mony  against  English  in  the  aforesaid  boundary  case, 
he  says,  “  My  nose  gushed  out  bleeding  in  a  most 
extraordinary  manner,  so  that  it  bloodied  a  hand¬ 
kerchief  -of  considerable  bigness,  and  also  ran  down 
upon  my  clothes  and  upon  my  horse’s  mane.”  He 
charged  it  upon  English.  These  depositions  were 
sworn  to  in  Court,  in  August,  1692,  and  January, 
1693.  How  they  got  there  does  not  appear,  as  English 
was  never  brought  to  trial.  All  that  relates  to  Mr. 


142 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


English  and  his  wife  may  be  despatched  at  this  point. 
On  the  6th  of  May,  a  warrant  was  procured  at  Boston, 
“  To  the  marshal-general,  or  his  lawful  deputy,”  to 
apprehend  Philip  English  wherever  found  within  the 
jurisdiction,  and  convey  him  to  the  “  custody  of  the 
marshal  of  Essex.”  Jacob  Manning,  a  deputy-mar¬ 
shal,  delivered  him  to  the  marshal  of  Essex  on  the 
30th  of  May ;  and  he  was  brought  before  the  magis¬ 
trates  on  the  next  day,  and,  after  examination,  com¬ 
mitted  to  prison.  He  and  his  wife  effected  their 
escape  from  jail,  and  found  refuge  in  New  York 
until  the  proceedings  were  terminated,  when  they 
returned  to  Salem,  and  continued  to  reside  here. 
She  survived  the  shock  given  by  the  accusation,  the 
danger  to  which  she  had  been  exposed,  and  the  suffer¬ 
ings  of  imprisonment,  but  a  short  time.  They  occu¬ 
pied  the  highest  social  position.  He  was  a  merchant, 
conducting  an  extensive  business,  and  had  a  large 
estate ;  owning  fourteen  buildings  in  the  town,  a 
wharf,  and  twenty-one  sail  of  vessels.  His  dwelling- 
house,  represented  in  the  frontispiece  of  this  volume, 
stood  until  a  recent  period,  and  is  remembered  by  many 
of  us.  Its  site  was  on  the  southern  side  of  Essex 
Street,  near  its  termination ;  comprising  the  area  be¬ 
tween  English  and  Webb  Streets.  It  must  have  been 
a  beautiful  situation ;  commanding  at  that  time  a 
full,  unobstructed  view  of  the  Beverly  and  Marblehead 
shores,  and  all  the  waters  and  points  of  land  between 
them.  The  mansion  was  spacious  in  its  dimensions, 
and  bore  the  marks  of  having  been  constructed  in  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


143 


best  style  of  elegance,  strength,  and  finish.  It  was 
indeed  a  curious  and  venerable  specimen  of  the  do¬ 
mestic  architecture  of  its  day.  A  first-class  bouse 
then  ;  in  its  proportions,  arrangements,  and  attach¬ 
ments,  it  would  compare  well  with  first-class  houses 
now.  Mrs.  English  was  a  lady  of  eminent  character 
and  culture.  Traditions  to  this  effect  have  come  down 
with  singular  uniformity  through  all  the  old  families 
of  the  place.  She  was  the  only  child  of  Richard 
Hollingsworth,  and  inherited  his  large  property.  The 
Rev.  William  Bentley,  D.D.,  in  his  “  Description  of 
Salem,”  and  whose  daily  life  made  him  conversant 
with  all  that  relates  to  the  locality  of  Mrs.  English’s 
residence,  says  that  the  officer  came  to  apprehend 
her  in  the  evening,  after  she  had  retired  to  rest.  He 
was  admitted  by  the  servants,  and  read  his  warrant 
in  her  bedchamber.  Guards  were  placed  around  the 
house.  To  be  accused  by  the  afflicted  children  was 
then  regarded  as  certain  death.  “  In  the  morning,” 
says  Bentley,  “  she  attended  the  devotions  of  her 
family,  kissed  her  children  with  great  composure, 
proposed  her  plan  for  their  education,  took  leave  of 
them,  and  then  told  the  officer  she  was  ready  to  die.” 
Dr.  Bentley  suggests  that  unfriendly  feelings  may 
have  existed  against  Mr.  English  in  consequence  of 
some  controversies  he  had  been  engaged  in  with  the 
town  about  the  title  to  lands ;  that  the  superior 
style  in  which  his  family  lived  had  subjected  them 
to  vulgar  prejudice ;  that  the  existence  of  this  feel¬ 
ing  becoming  known  to  the  “  afflicted  girls  ”  led  them 


144 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  cry  out  against  him  ancl  his  wife.  It  may  he  so. 
They  availed  themselves  of  every  such  advantage ; 
and  particularly  liked  to  strike  high,  so  as  the  more 
to  astound  and  overawe  the  public  mind. 

I  find  no  further  mention  of  Sarah  Morrel.  She 
doubtless  shared  the  fate  of  those  escaping  death,  —  a 
long  imprisonment.  When  Dorcas  Hoar  was  brought 
in,  there  was  a  general  commotion  among  the  afflicted, 
falling  into  fits  all  around.  After  coming  out  of  them, 
they  vied  with  each  other  in  heaping  all  sorts  of  accu¬ 
sations  upon  the  prisoner ;  Abigail  Williams  and 
Ann  Putnam  charging  her  with  having  choked  a 
woman  in  Boston  ;  Elizabeth  Hubbard  crying  out  that 
she  was  pinching  her,  “  and  showing  the  marks  to 
the  standers  by.  The  marshal  said  she  pinched  her 
fingers  at  the  time.”  The  magistrate,  indignantly 
believing  the  whole,  said,  “  Dorcas  Hoar,  why  do  you 
hurt  these?” — “I  never  hurt  any  child  in  my  life.” 
The  girls  then  charged  her  with  having  killed  her  hus¬ 
band,  and  with  various  other  crimes.  Mary  Walcot, 
Susanna  Sheldon,  and  Abigail  Williams  said  they 
saw  a  black  man  whispering  in  her  ear.  The  spirit 
of  the  prisoner  was  raised ;  and  she  said,  “  Oh,  you 
are  liars,  and  God  will  stop  the  mouth  of  liars  !  ”  The 
anger  of  the  magistrates  was  roused  by  this  bold  out¬ 
break.  “  You  are  not  to  speak  after  this  manner  in 
the  Court.”  —  “I  will  speak  the  truth  as  long  as  I 
live,”  she  fearlessly  replied.  Parris  says,  at  the  close 
of  his  account,  “  The  afflicted  were  much  distressed 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  145 

during  lier  examination.”  Of  course,  she  was  sent  to 
prison. 

Susanna  Martin  of  Amesbury,  a  widow,  was  arrested 
on  a  warrant  dated  April  30,  and  examined  at  the 
Village  church  May  2.  She  is  described  as  a  short 
active  woman,  wearing  a  hood  and  scarf,  plump  and 
well  developed  in  her  figure,  of  remarkable  personal 
neatness.  One  of  the  items  of  the  evidence  against 
her  was,  that,  “  in  an  extraordinary  dirty  season,  when 
it  was  not  fit  for  any  person  to  travel,  she  came  on 
foot”  to  a  house  at  Newbury.  The  woman  of  the 
house,  the  substance  of  whose  testimony  I  am  giving, 
having  asked,  “whether  she  came  from  Amesbury 
afoot,”  expressed  her  surprise  at  her  having  ventured 
abroad  in  such  bad  walking,  and  bid  her  children  make 
way  for  her  to  come  to  the  fire  to  dry  herself.  She 
replied  “  she  was  as  dry  as  1  was,”  and  turned  her 
coats  aside  ;  “  and  I  could  not  perceive  that  the  soles 
of  her  shoes  were  wet.  I  was  startled  at  it,  that  she 
should  come  so  dry ;  and  told  her  that  I  should  have 
been  wet  up  to  my  knees,  if  I  should  have  come  so 
far  on  foot.”  She  replied  that  “  she  scorned  to  have  a 
drabbled  tail.”  The  good  woman  who  treated  Susanna 
Martin  on  this  occasion  with  such  hospitable  kind¬ 
ness  received  the  impression,  as  appears  by  the  import 
of  her  deposition,  that,  because  Martin  came  into  the 
house  so  wonderfully  dry,  she  was  therefore  a  witch. 
The  only  inference  we  are  likely  to  draw  is,  that  she 
was  a  particularly  neat  person ;  careful  to  pick  her 

10 


YOL.  II. 


146 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


way ;  and  did  not  wear  skirts  of  the  dimensions  of 
our  times. 

The  language  reported  by  this  witness  to  have  been 
used  by  Susanna  Martin  created  in  her,  at  the  time, 
visible  mortification,  as  well  as  resentment.  A  writer 
at  the  period,  not  by  any  means  inclined  to  give  a  rep¬ 
resentation  favorable  to  the  prisoners,  reports  her  ex¬ 
pression  thus :  “  She  scorned  to  be  drabbled.”  She 
was  undoubtedly  a  woman  who  spoke  her  mind  freely, 
and  with  strength  of  expression,  as  the  magistrates 
found.  From  this  cause,  perhaps,  she  had  shocked 
the  prejudices  and  violated  the  conventional  scrupu¬ 
losities  then  prevalent,  to  such  a  degree  as  to  incur 
much  comment,  if  not  scandal.  There  had  been  a 
good  deal  of  gossip  about  her ;  and,  some  time  before, 
she  had  been  proceeded  against  as  a  witch.  But  there 
was  no  ground  for  any  serious  charges  against  her 
character.  Like  Mrs.  Ann  Hibbens,  perhaps  the  head 
and  front  of  her  offending  was  that  she  had  more 
wit  than  her  neighbors.  She  certainly  was  a  strong- 
minded  woman,  as  her  examination  shows.  Two  re¬ 
ports  of  it,  each  in  the  handwriting  of  Parris,  have 
come  down  to  us.  They  are  almost  identical,  and  in 
substance  as  follows  :  — 

On  the  appearance  of  the  accused,  many  of  the  wit¬ 
nesses  against  her  instantly  fell  into  fits.  The  magis¬ 
trate  inquired  of  them, — 

“  Hath  this  woman  hurt  you  ?  ” 

“  (Abigail  Williams  declared  that  she  had  hurt  her 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


147 


often.  ‘  Ann  Putnam  threw  her  glove  at  her  in  a  fit,’  and 
the  rest  were  struck  dumb  at  her  presence.) 

“What!  do  you  laugh  at  it  ?  said  the  magistrate.  —  Well 
I  may  at  such  folly. 

“  Is  this  folly  to  see  these  so  hurt?  —  I  never  hurt  man, 
woman,  or  child. 

“  (Mercy  Lewis  cried  out,  ‘  She  hath  hurt  me  a  great 
many  times,  and  plucks  me  down.’  Then  Martin  laughed 
again.  Several  others  cried  out  upon  her,  and  the  magis¬ 
trate  again  addressed  her.) 

“What  do  you  say  to  this?  —  I  have  no  hand  in 
witchcraft. 

“  What  did  you  do  ?  did  you  consent  these  should  be 
hurt  ?  —  No,  never  in  my  life. 

“  W  hat  ails  these  people  ?  —  I  do  not  know. 

“But  what  do  you  think  ails  them?  —  I  do  not  desire 
to  spend  my  judgment  upon  it. 

“  Do  you  think  they  are  bewitched  ?  —  No  :  I  do  not  think 
they  are. 

“  Well,  tell  us  your  thoughts  about  them.  —  My  thoughts 
are  mine  own  when  they  are  in  ;  but,  when  they  are  out,  they 
are  another’s. 

“  Who  do  you  think  is  their  master  ?  —  If  they  be  deal¬ 
ing  in  the  black  art,  you  may  know  as  well  as  I. 

“  What  have  you  done  towards  the  hurt  of  these  ?  —  I 
have  done  nothing. 

“  Why,  it  is  you,  or  your  appearance.  —  I  cannot  help  it. 

“  How  comes  your  appearance  just  now  to  hurt  these  ? 
—  How  do  I  know  ? 

“  Are  you  not  willing  to  tell  the  truth  ?  —  I  cannot  tell. 
He  that  appeared  in  Samuel’s  shape  can  appear  in  any  one’s 
shape. 


148 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Do  you  believe  these  afflicted  persons  do  not  say  true  ? 
—  They  may  lie,  for  aught  I  know. 

“May  not  you  lie?  —  I  dare  not  tell  a  lie,  if  it  would 
save  my  life.” 

At  this  point,  the  marshal  declared  that  “  she 
pinched  her  hands,  and  Elizabeth  Hubbard  was  imme¬ 
diately  afflicted.  Several  of  the  afflicted  cried  out 
that  they  saw  her  upon  the  beam  ”  of  the  meeting¬ 
house  over  their  heads ;  and  there  was,  no  doubt,  a 
scene  of  frightful  excitement.  The  magistrate,  in 
the  deptli  of  his  awe  and  distress,  earnestly  appealed 
to  the  accused,  “  Pray  God  discover  you,  if  you 
be  guilty.”  Nothing  daunted,  she  replied,  “  Amen, 
amen.  A  false  tongue  will  never  make  a  guilty 
person.”  A  great  uproar  then  arose.  The  accusers 
fell  into  dreadful  convulsions,  among  the  rest  John 
Indian,  who  cried  out,  “  She  bites,  she  bites  !  ”  The 
magistrate,  overcome  by  the  sight  of  these  suffer¬ 
ings,  again  appealed  to  her,  “  Have  not  you  com¬ 
passion  for  these  afflicted  ?  ”  She  calmly  and  firmly 
answered,  “  No :  I  have  none.”  The  uproar  rose 
higher.  The  accusers  all  declared  that  they  saw 
the  “  black  man,”  Satan  himself,  standing  by  her 
side.  They  pretended  to  try  to  approach  her,  but 
were  suddenly  deprived  of  the  power  of  locomotion. 
John  Indian  attempted  to  rush  upon  her,  but  fell 
sprawling  upon  the  floor.  The  magistrate  again  ap¬ 
pealed  to  her :  “  What  is  the  reason  these  cannot 
come  near  you?” — “I  cannot  tell.  It  may  be  the 
Devil  bears  me  more  malice  than  another.”  —  “Do 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


149 


you  not  see  God  evidently  discovering  you  ?  ”  —  “  No, 
not  a  bit  for  that.”  —  “All  the  congregation  besides 
think  so.”  —  “  Let  them  think  what  they  will.”  — 
“What  is  the  reason  these  cannot  come  to  you?”  —  “I 
do  not  know  but  they  can,  if  they  will ;  or  else,  if  you 
please,  I  will  come  to  them.”  —  “  What  was  that  the 
black  man  whispered  to  you?”- — “There  was  none 
whispered  to  me.”  She  was  committed  to  prison. 

In  the  mean  while,  preparations  had  been  going  on 
to  bring  upon  the  stage  a  more  striking  character, 
and  give  to  the  excited  public  mind  a  greater  shock 
than  had  yet  been  experienced.  Intimations  had  been 
thrown  out  that  higher  culprits  than  had  been  so  far 
brought  to  light  were  in  reserve,  and  would,  in  due 
time,  be  unmasked.  It  was  hinted  that  a  minister 
had  joined  the  standard  of  the  Arch-enemy,  and  was 
leading  the  devilish  confederacy.  In  the  accounts 
given  of  the  diabolical  sacraments,  a  man  in  black 
had  been  described,  but  no  name  yet  given.  As 
Charles  the  Second,  while  they  were  hanging  the  regi¬ 
cides,  at  the  Restoration,  was  looking  about  for  a 
preacher  to  hang,  and  used  Hugh  Peters  for  the 
occasion ;  so  the  “  afflicted  children,”  or  those  acting 
behind  them,  wanted  a  minister  to  complete  the  drama¬ 
tis  personce  of  their  tragedy.  His  connection  with 
the  society  and  its  controversies,  and  the  animosities 
which  had  thus  become  attached  to  him,  naturally 
suggested  Mr.  Burroughs.  He  was  then  pursuing, 
as  usual,  a  laborious,  humble,  self-sacrificing  minis¬ 
try,  in  the  midst  of  perils  and  privations,  away 


150 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


down  in  the  frontier  settlements  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  and  little  dreamed  of  what  was  brewing,  for 
his  ruin  and  destruction,  in  his  former  parish  at  the 
village.  This  is  what  Thomas  Putnam  had  in  his 
mind  when  he  spoke  of  a  “  wheel  within  a  wheel,” 
and  “  the  high  and  dreadful  ”  things  not  then  dis¬ 
closed  that  Avere  to  make  “  ears  tingle.” 

It  Avas  necessary  to  be  at  once  cautious  and  rapid 
in  their  movements,  to  prevent  the  public  from  getting 
information  which,  by  reaching  the  ears  of  Burroughs, 
might  put  him  on  his  guard.  It  Avas  no  easy  thing 
to  secure  him  at  the  great  distance  of  his  place  of  resi¬ 
dence.  If  he  should  become  apprised  of  what  was  going 
on,  his  escape  into  remoter  and  inaccessible  settlements 
would  have  baffled  the  whole  scheme.  Nothing  there¬ 
fore  was  done  at  the  village,  but  the  steps  to  arrest  him 
originated  at  Boston.  Elisha  Hutchinson,  a  magis¬ 
trate  there,  issued  the  proper  order,  addressed  to 
John  Partridge  of  Portsmouth,  Field-marshal  of  the 
provinces  of  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  dated  April 
30,  1G92,  to  arrest  George  Burroughs,  “  preacher  at 
Wells  ;  ”  he  being  “  suspected  of  a  confederacy  with  the 
Devil.”  Partridge  was  directed  to  deliver  him  to  the 
custody  of  the  marshal  of  Essex,  or,  not  meeting  him, 
Avas  requested  to  bring  him  to  Salem,  and  hand  him 
OArer  to  the  magistrates  there.  The  “  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren  ”  had  begun,  shortly  before,  to  use  his  name. 
Abigail  Hobbs  had  resided  some  years  before  at 
Casco ;  and  from  her  they  obtained  all  the  scandal 
she  had  heard  there,  or  chose  to  fabricate  to  suit  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


151 


purpose  of  the  prosecutors.  The  way  in  which  the 
minds  of  the  deluded  people  were  worked  up  against 
Mr.  Burroughs  is  illustrated  in  a  deposition  subse¬ 
quently  made  to  this  effect :  — 

Benjamin  Hutchinson  testified,  that,  on  the  21st  of 
April,  1692,  about  eleven  o’clock  in  the  forenoon,  Abi¬ 
gail  Williams  told  him  that  she  saw  a  person  whom 
she  described  as  Mr.  George  Burroughs,  44  a  little  black 
minister  that  lived  at  Casco  Bay.”  Mr.  Burroughs 
was  of  small  stature  and  dark  complexion.  She  gave 
an  account  of  his  wonderful  feats  of  strength,  said 
that  he  was  a  wizard ;  and  that  he  44  had  killed  three 
wives,  two  for  himself  and  one  for  Mr.  Lawson.”  She 
affirmed  that  she  saw  him  then.  Mr.  Burroughs,  it 
will  be  borne  in  mind,  was  at  this  time  a  hundred 
miles  away,  at  his  home  in  Maine.  Hutchinson 
asked  her  where  she  saw  him.  She  said  44  There,” 
pointing  to  a  rut  in  the  road  made  by  a  cart-wheel. 
He  had  an  iron  fork  in  his  hand,  and  threw  it  where 
she  said  Burroughs  was  standing.  Instantly  she  fell 
into  a  fit ;  and,  when  she  came  out  of  it,  said,  44 4  You 
have  torn  his  coat,  for  I  heard  it  tear.’  —  ‘  Where¬ 
abouts  ?  ’  said  I.  4  On  one  side,’  said  she.  Then  we 
came  into  the  house  of  Lieutenant  Ingersoll ;  and  I 
went  into  the  great  room,  and  Abigail  came  in  and 
said, 4  There  he  stands.’  I  said, 4  Where  ?  where  ?  ’  and 
presently  drew  my  rapier.”  Then  Abigail  said,  he  has 
gone,  but  44  4  there  is  a  gray  cat.’  Then  I  said, 4  Where¬ 
abouts  ?  ’  4  There  !  ’  said  she,  4  there !  ’  Then  I  struck 

with  my  rapier,  and  she  fell  into  a  fit;  and,  when  it 


152 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


was  over,  she  said,  ‘You  killed  her.’”  Poor  Hutch¬ 
inson  could  not  see  the  cat  he  had  killed  any  more 
than  Burroughs’s  coat  he  had  torn.  Abigail  ex¬ 
plained  the  mystery  to  his  satisfaction,  by  saying  that 
the  spectre  of  Sarah  Good  had  come  in  at  the  moment, 
and  carried  away  the  dead  cat.  This  was  all  in  broad 
daylight ;  it  being,  as  Hutchinson  testified,  “  about 
twelve  o’clock.”  The  same  day,  “  after  lecture,  in  said 
Ingersoll’s  chamber,”  Abigail  Williams  and  Mary 
Walcot  were  present.  They  said  that  “  Goody  Hobbs, 
of  Topsfield,  had  bit  Mary  Walcot  by  the  foot.”  Then 
both  fell  into  a  fit ;  and  on  coming  out,  “  they  saw 
William  Hobbs  and  his  wife  go  both  of  them  along 
the  table.”  Hutchinson  instantly  stabbed,  with  his 
rapier,  “  Goody  Hobbs  on  her  side,”  as  the  two  girls 
declared.  They  further  said  that  the  room  was  “  full 
of  them,”  that  is  of  witches,  in  their  apparitions  ;  then 
Hutchinson  and  Eleazer  Putnam  “  stabbed  with  their 
rapiers  at  a  venture.”  The  girls  cried  out,  that  they 
“  had  killed  a  great  black  woman  of  Stonington,  and 
an  Indian  who  had  come  with  her :  ”  the  girls  said 
further,  “  The  floor  is  all  covered  with  blood  ;  ”  and, 
rushing  to  the  window,  declared  that  they  saw  a  great 
company  of  witches  on  a  hill,  and  that  three  of  them 
“lay  dead”  there,  —  “the  black  woman,  the  Indian, 
and  one  more  that  they  knew  not.”  This  was  about 
four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon.  This  evidence  was  given 
and  received  in  court.  It  shows  the  audacity  with 
which  the  girls  imposed  upon  the  credulity  of  a  people 
wrought  up  by  their  arts  to  the  highest  pitch  of  in- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


153 


sane  infatuation ;  and  illustrates  a  condition  of  tilings, 
at  that  time  and  place,  that  is  truly  astonishing. 

On  the  evening  before  Hutchinson  was  imposed 
upon,  as  just  described,  by  Abigail  Williams  and  Mary 
Walcot,  Ann  Putnam  had  made  most  astonishing  dis¬ 
closures,  at  her  father’s  house,  in  his  presence  and 
that  of  Peter  Prescott,  Robert  Morrel,  and  Ezekiel 
Cheever.  An  account  of  the  affair  was  drawn  up  by 
her  father,  and  sworn  to  by  her,  in  these  words :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Ann  Putnam,  who  testifieth  and 
saitli,  on  the  20th  of  April,  1692,  at  evening,  she  saw  the 
apparition  of  a  minister,  at  which  she  was  grievously  af¬ 
frighted,  and  cried  out,  4  Oh,  dreadful,  dreadful !  here  is  a 
minister  come  !  What !  are  ministers  witches  too  ?  Whence 
came  you,  and  what  is  your  name  ?  for  I  will  complain  of 
you,  though  you  be  a  minister,  if  you  be  a  wizard.’  Imme¬ 
diately  I  was  tortured  by  him,  being  racked  and  almost 
choked  by  him.  And  he  tempted  me  to  write  in  his  book, 
which  I  refused  with  loud  outcries,  and  said  I  would  not 
write  in  his  book  though  he  tore  me  all  to  pieces,  but  told 
him  it  was  a  dreadful  thing  that  he,  which  was  a  minister, 
that  should  teach  children  to  fear  God,  should  come  to 
persuade  poor  creatures  to  give  their  souls  to  the  Devil. 
4  Oh,  dreadful,  dreadful !  Tell  me  your  name,  that  I  may 
know  who  you  are.’  Then  again  he  tortured  me,  and 
urged  me  to  write  in  his  book,  which  I  refused.  And 
then,  presently,  he  told  me  that  his  name  was  George 
Burroughs,  and  that  he  had  had  three  wives,  and  that  he  had 
bewitched  the  two  first  of  them  to  death  ;  and  that  lie  killed 
Mrs.  Lawson,  because  she  was  so  unwilling  to  go  from  the 
Village,  and  also  killed  Mr.  Lawson’s  child  because  he  went 


154 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  the  eastward  with  Sir  Edmon,  and  preached  so  to  the 
soldiers ;  and  that  he  had  bewitched  a  great  many  soldiers 
to  death  at  the  eastward  when  Sir  Edmon  was  there  ;  and 
that  he  had  made  Abigail  Hobbs  a  witch,  and  several 
witches  more.  And  he  has  continued  ever  since,  by  times, 
tempting  me  to  write  in  his  book,  and  grievously  torturing 
me  by  beating,  pinching,  and  almost  choking  me  several 
times  a  day.  He  also  told  me  that  he  was  above  a  witch. 
He  was  a  conjurer.” 

Her  father  and  the  other  persons  present  made 
oath  that  they  saw  and  heard  all  this  at  the  time ; 
that  “  they  beheld  her  tortures  and  perceived  her 
hellish  temptations  by  her  loud  outcries,  ‘  I  will  not, 
I  will  not  write,  though  yon  torment  me  all  the  days 
of  my  life.’  ”  It  will  be  observed  that  this  was  the 
evening  before  Thomas  Putnam  wrote  his  letter  to 
the  magistrates,  preparing  them  for  something  u  high 
and  dreadful  ”  that  was  soon  to  be  brought  to  light. 

A  similar  scene  took  place  not  long  afterwards,  in 
the  presence  of  her  father  and  her  uncle  Edward,  to 
which  they  also  testify.  It  was  thus  described  by 
her  under  oath  :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Ann  Putnam,  who  testifieth  and 
saith,  that,  on  the  8th  of  May,  at  evening,  I  saw  the  appa¬ 
rition  of  Mr.  George  Burroughs,  who  grievously  tortured 
me,  and  urged  me  to  write  in  his  book,  which  I  refused. 
He  then  told  me  that  his  two  first  wives  would  appear 
to  me  presently,  and  tell  me  a  great  many  lies,  but  I  should 
not  believe  them.  Then  immediately  appeared  to  me  the 
forms  of  two  women  in  winding-sheets,  and  napkins  about 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


155 


their  heads,  at  which  I  was  greatly  affrighted ;  and  they 
turned  their  faces  towards  Mr.  Burroughs,  and  looked  very 
red  and  angry,  and  told  him  that  he  had  been  a.  cruel 
man  to  them,  and  that  their  blood  did  cry  for  vengeance 
against  him  ;  and  also  told  him  that  they  should  be  clothed 
with  white  robes  in  heaven,  when  he  should  be  cast  into 
hell ;  and  immediately  he  vanished  away.  And,  as  soon  as 
he  was  gone,  the  two  women  turned  their  faces  towards 
me,  and  looked  as  pale  as  a  white  wall ;  and  told  me  that 
they  were  Mr.  Burroughs’s  two  first  wives,  and  that  he  had 
murdered  them.  And  one  of  them  told  me  that  she  was 
his  first  wife,  and  he  stabbed  her  under  the  left  arm,  and 
put  a  piece  of  sealing-wax  on  the  wound.  And  she  pulled 
aside  the  winding-sheet,  and  showed  me  the  place ;  and  also 
told  me,  that  she  was  in  the  house  where  Mr.  Parris  now 
lives,  when  it  was  done.  And  the  other  told  me,  that  Mr. 
Burroughs  and  that  wife  which  he  hath  now,  killed  her  in 
the  vessel,  as  she  was  coming  to  see  her  friends,  because 
they  would  have  one  another.  And  they  both  charged  me 
that  I  should  tell  these  things  to  the  magistrates  before 
Mr.  Burroughs’  face  ;  and,  if  he  did  not  own  them,  they 
did  not  know  but  they  should  appear  there.  This  morning, 
also,  Mrs.  Lawson  and  her  daughter  Ann  appeared  to  me, 
whom  I  knew,  and  told  me  Mr.  Burroughs  murdered  them. 
This  morning  also  appeared  to  me  another  woman  in  a 
winding-sheet,  and  told  me  that  she  was  Goodman  Fuller’s 
first  wife,  and  Mr.  Burroughs  killed  her  because  there  was 
some  difference  between  her  husband  and  him.” 

This  was  indeed  most  extraordinary  language  and 
imagery  to  have  been  used  by  a  child  of  twelve  years 
of  age.  It  is  not  strange,  that,  upon  a  community, 


156 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


whose  fancies  and  fears  had  been  so  long  wrought  upon, 
holding  their  views,  the  effect  was  awfully  great.  The 
very  fact  that  it  was  a  child  that  spoke  made  her 
declarations  seem  supernatural.  Then,  again,  they 
were  accompanied  with  such  ocular  demonstration, 
in  her  terrible  bodily  sufferings,  that  none  remained  in 
doubt  of  the  truthfulness  and  reality  of  what  they  lis¬ 
tened  to  and  beheld.  It  did  not  enter  their  imagina¬ 
tions,  for  a  moment,  that  there  was  any  deception  or 
imposture,  or  even  delusion,  on  her  part.  Her  case  is 
truly  a  problem  not  easily  solved  even  now.  While 
we  are  filled  with  horror  and  indignation  at  the  thought 
that  she  figures  as  a  capital  and  fatal  witness  in  all 
the  trials,  it  is  impossible  not  to  feel  that  a  wisdom 
greater  than  ours  is  necessary  to  fathom  the  dark  mys¬ 
tery  of  the  phenomena  presented  by  her  and  her 
mother  and  other  accusers,  in  this  monstrous  and  ter¬ 
rible  affair. 

These  occurrences,  happening  just  before  Mr.  Bur¬ 
roughs  was  brought  to  the  village  as  a  prisoner,  were 
bruited  from  house  to  house,  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
and  worked  the  people  to  a  state  of  horrified  exaspera¬ 
tion  against  him ;  and  he  was  met  with  execration, 
when,  on  the  4th  of  May,  Field-marshal  Partridge  ap¬ 
peared  with  him  at  Salem,  and  delivered  him  to  the 
jailer  there.  When  we  consider  the  distance  and  the 
circumstances  of  travel  at  that  time,  it  is  evident  that 
the  officers  charged  with  the  service  acted  with  the 
greatest  promptitude,  celerity,  and  energy.  The  tradi¬ 
tion  is,  that  they  found  Mr.  Burroughs  in  his  humble 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


157 


home,  partaking  of  his  frugal  meal ;  that  he  was 
snatched  from  the  table  without  a  moment’s  opportu¬ 
nity  to  provide  for  his  family,  or  prepare  himself  for 
the  journey,  and  hurried  on  his  way  roughly,  and 
without  the  least  explanation  of  what  it  all  meant. 
As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  he  was  in  jail  in  Salem, 
arrangements  were  commenced  for  his  examination. 
The  public  mind  was  highly  excited  ;  and  it  was  deter¬ 
mined  to  make  the  occasion  as  impressive,  effective, 
and  awe-striking  as  possible.  Another  “  field-day  ” 
was  to  be  had.  On  the  9th  of  May,  a  special  session  of 
the  Magistracy  was  held,  —  William  Stoughton  coming 
from  Dorchester,  and  Samuel  Sewall  from  Boston,  to 
sit  with  Hathorne  and  Corwin,  and  give  greater 
solemnity  and  severity  to  the  proceedings.  Stoughton 
presided.  The  first  step  in  the  proceedings  was  to  have 
a  private  hearing,  in  the  presence  of  the  magistrates 
and  ministers  only  ;  and  the  report  of  what  passed 
there  gives  proof  of  what  is  indicated  more  or  less 
clearly  in  several  passages  in  the  accounts  that  have 
come  down  to  us  in  reference  to  Mr.  Burroughs, — 
that  he  was  regarded  as  not  wholly  sound  in  doctrine 
on  points  not  connected  with  witchcraft,  was  treated 
with  special  severity  on  that  account,  and  made  the 
victim  of  bigoted  prejudice  among  his  brethren  and  in 
the  churches.  In  this  secret  inquisition,  he  was  called 
to  account  for  not  attending  the  communion  service 
on  one  or  two  occasions ;  he  being  a  member  of  the 
church  at  Itoxbury.  It  was  also  brought  against  him, 
that  none  of  his  children  but  the  eldest  had  been 


158 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


baptized.  What  the  facts,  in  these  respects,  were,  it 
is  impossible  to  say  ;  as  we  know  of  them  only  through 
the  charges  of  his  enemies.  After  this,  he  was  carried 
to  the  place  of  public  meeting  ;  and,  as  he  entered  the 
room,  “  many,  if  not  all,  the  bewitched  were  grievously 
tortured.”  After  the  confusion  had  subsided,  Su¬ 
sanna  Sheldon  testified  that  Burroughs’  two  wives 
had  appeared  to  her  “  in  their  winding-sheets,”  and 
said,  “  That  man  killed  them.”  He  was  ordered  to 
look  on  the  witness ;  and,  as  he  turned  to  do  so,  he 
“  knocked  down,”  as  the  reporter  affirms,  “  all  (or 
most)  of  the  afflicted  that  stood  behind  him.”  Ann 
Putnam,  and  the  several  other  “  afflicted  children,” 
bore  their  testimony  in  a  similar  strain  against  him, 
interspersing  at  intervals,  all  their  various  convulsions, 
outcries,  and  tumblings.  Mercy  Lewis  had  “  a  dread¬ 
ful  and  tedious  fit.”  Walcot,  Hubbard,  and  Sheldon 
were  cast  into  torments  simultaneously.  At  length, 
they  were  “  so  tortured  ”  that  “  authority  ordered 
them  ”  to  be  removed.  Their  sufferings  were  greater 
than  the  magistrates  and  people  could  longer  endure 
to  look  upon.  The  question  was  put  to  Burroughs, 
“  what  he  thought  of  these  things.”  He  answered, 
“  it  was  an  pmazing  and  humbling  providence,  but  he 
understood  nothing  of  it.”  Throwing  aside  all  the 
foolish  and  ridiculous  gossip  and  all  the  monstrous 
fables  that  belong  to  the  accusations  against  him,  and 
looking  at  the  only  known  facts  in  his  history,  it 
appears  that  Mr.  Burroughs  was  a  man  of  ingenuous 
nature,  free  from  guile,  unsuspicious  of  guile  in 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


159 


others  ;  a  disinterested,  humble,  patient,  and  generous 
person.  lie  had  suffered  much  wrong,  and  endured 
great  hardships  in  life  ;  but  they  had  not  impaired  his 
readiness  to  labor  and  suffer  for  others.  There  was 
no  combativeness  or  vindictiveness  in  his  disposition. 
Even  in  the  midst  of  the  unspeakable  outrages  he  was 
experiencing  on  this  occasion,  he  does  not  appear  to 
be  incensed  or  irritated,  but  simply  “  amazed.”  To 
have  such  horrid  crimes  laid  to  him,  instead  of  rousing 
a  violent  spirit  within  him,  impressed  him  with  a  hum¬ 
bling  sense  of  an  inscrutable  Providence.  There  is  a 
remarkable  similarity  in  the  manner  in  which  Rebecca 
Nurse  and  George  Burroughs  received  the  dreadful 
accusations  brought  against  them.  “  Surely,”  she 
said,  “  what  sin  hath  God  found  out  in  me  unrepented 
of  that  he  should  lay  such  an  affliction  upon  me  in  my 
old  age  ?  ”  His  words  are,  “  It  is  an  humbling  provi¬ 
dence  of  God.”  The  more  we  reflect  upon  this  lan¬ 
guage,  and  go  to  the  depths  of  the  spirit  that  suggested 
it,  the  more  we  realize,  that,  in  each  case,  it  arose  from 
a  sanctified  Christian  heart,  and  is  an  attestation  in 
vindication  and  in  honor  of  the  sufferers  from  whose 
lips  it  fell,  that  outweighs  all  passions  and  prejudices, 
reverses  all  verdicts,  and  commands  the  conviction  of 
all  fair  and  honest  minds. 

After  the  “afflicted”  had  been  sent  out  of  the  room, 
there  was  testimony  to  show  that  Mr.  Burroughs  had 
given  proof  of  physical  strength,  which,  in  a  man  of 
his  small  stature,  was  sure  evidence  that  he  was  in 
league  with  the  Devil.  Many  marvellous  statements 


160 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


were  made  to  this  effect,  some  of  the  most  extrava¬ 
gant  of  which  he  denied.  He  undoubtedly  was  a 
person  of  great  strength.  He  had  cultivated  muscu¬ 
lar  exercise  and  development  while  an  undergraduate 
at  Cambridge,  and  was  early  celebrated  as  a  gymnast. 
After  a  while,  the  accusers  and  afflicted  were  again 
brought  in.  Abigail  Hobbs  testified  that  she  was  pres¬ 
ent  at  a  “  witch  meeting,  in  the  field  near  Mr.  Parris’s 
house,”  in  which  Mr.  Burroughs  acted  a  conspicuous 
part.  Mary  Warren  swore  that  “  Mr.  Burroughs  had 
a  trumpet  which  he  blew  to  summon  the  witches  to 
their  feasts  ”  and  other  meetings  “  near  Mr.  Parris’s 
house.”  This  trumpet  had  a  sound  that  reached  over 
the  country  far  and  wide,  sending  its  blasts  to  Ando¬ 
ver,  and  wakening  its  echoes  along  the  Merrimack,  to 
Cape  Ann,  and  the  uttermost  settlements  everywhere ; 
so  that  the  witches,  hearing  it,  would  mount  their 
brooms,  and  alight,  in  a  moment,  in  Mr.  Parris’s 
orchard,  just  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  parsonage  ; 
but  its  sound  was  not  heard  by  any  other  ears  than 
those  of  confederates  with  Satan.  While  the  girls  were 
giving  their  testimony,  every  once  in  a  while  they 
would  be  dreadfully  choked,  appearing  to  be  in  the 
last  stages  of  suffocation  and  strangulation  ;  and,  com¬ 
ing  to,  at  intervals,  would  charge  it  upon  Burroughs 
or  other  witches,  calling  them  by  name ;  generally, 
however,  confining  their  selection  to  persons  already 
apprehended,  and  not  bringing  in  others  until  meas¬ 
ures  were  matured.  Mr.  Burroughs  was  committed 
for  trial. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


161 


The  examination  of  Mr.  Burroughs  presented  a 
spectacle,  all  tilings  considered,  of  rare  interest  and 
curiosity,  —  the  grave  dignity  of  the  magistrates;  the 
plain,  dark  figure  of  the  prisoner  ;  the  half-crazed,  half- 
demoniac  aspect  of  the  girls  ;  the  wild,  excited  crowd  ; 
the  horror,  rage,  and  pallid  exasperation  of  Lawson, 
Goodman  Fuller  and  others,  also  of  the  relatives  and 
friends  of  Burroughs’s  two  former  wives,  as  the  deep 
damnation  of  their  taking  off  and  the  secrets  of  their 
bloody  graves  were  being  brought  to  light ;  and  the 
child  on  the  stand  telling  her  awful  tale  of  ghosts 
in  winding-sheets,  with  napkins  round  their  heads, 
pointing  to  their  death-wounds,  and  saying  that  “  their 
blood  did  cry  for  vengeance  ”  upon  their  murderer. 
The  prisoner  stands  alone  :  all  were  raving  around  him, 
while  he  is  amazed ;  astounded  at  such  folly  and 
wrong  in  others,  and  humbly  sensible  of  his  own  un¬ 
worthiness  ;  bowed  down  under  the  mysterious  Provi¬ 
dence,  that  permitted  such  things  for  a  season,  yet 
strong  and  steadfast  in  conscious  innocence  and  up¬ 
rightness. 

To  complete  the  proceedings  against  Burroughs  at 
this  time,  and  raise  to  the  highest  point  the  public 
abhorrence  of  him,  effective  use  was  made  of  Deliver¬ 
ance  Hobbs,  the  wife  of  William  Hobbs,  of  whom  I 
have  spoken  before.  She  was  first  examined  April 
22.  During  the  earlier  part  of  the  proceedings,  she 
maintained  her  integrity  and  protested  her  innocence 
in  a  manner  which  shows  that  her  self-possession  held 
good.  But  the  examination  was  protracted ;  her 

11 


VOL.  IX. 


162 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


strength  was  exhausted ;  the  declarations  of  the  ac¬ 
cusers,  their  dreadful  sufferings,  the  prejudgment  of  the 
case  against  her  by  the  magistrates,  and  the  combined 
influences  of  all  the  circumstances  around  her,  broke 
her  down.  Her  firmness,  courage,  and  truth  fled  ;  and 
she  began  to  confess  all  that  was  laid  to  her  charge. 
The  record  is  interesting  as  showing  how  gradually 
she  was  overwhelmed  and  overcome.  But  while  men¬ 
tioning  the  names  of  others  whom  she  pretended  to 
have  been  associated  with  as  witches,  she  did  not  speak 
of  Burroughs.  She  referred  to  those  who  had  been 
brought  out  before  that  date,  but  not  to  him.  The  in¬ 
tended  movement  against  him  had  not  then  been 
divulged.  On  the  3d  of  May,  the  day  before  he  arrived, 
after  it  was  known  that  officers  had  been  sent  to  arrest 
him,  she  was  examined  again.  On  this  occasion,  she 
charged  Burroughs  with  having  been  present,  and 
taken  a  leading  part  in  witch-meetings,  which  she  had 
described  in  detail,  at  her  first  examination,  without 
mentioning  him  at  all.  This  proves  that  the  confess¬ 
ing  prisoners  were  apprised  of  what  it  was  desired 
they  should  say,  and  that  their  testimony  was  pre¬ 
pared  for  them  by  the  managers  of  the  affair.  The 
following  is  one  of  the  confessions  made  by  this  woman, 
subsequent  to  her  public  examination.  I  give  it  partly 
to  show  what  a  flood  of  falsehood  was  poured  upon 
Burroughs,  and  partly  because  it  will  serve  as  a 
specimen  of  the  stuff  of  which  the  confessions  were 
composed  :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


163 


“  The  First  Examination  of  Deliverance  Ilolhs  in  Prison. 
—  She  continued  in  the  free  acknowledging  herself  to  be  a 
covenant  witch  :  and  further  coufesseth  she  was  warned  to 
a  meeting  yesterday  morning,  and  that  there  was  present 
Procter  and  his  wife,  Goody  Nurse,  Giles  Corey  and  his  wife, 
Goody  Bishop  alias  Oliver;  and  Mr.  Burroughs  was  their 
preacher,  and  pressed  them  to  bewitch  all  in  the  village, 
telling  them  they  should  do  it  gradually,  and  not  all  at  once, 
assuring  them  they  should  prevail.  He  administered  the 
sacrament  unto  them  at  the  same  time,  with  red  bread  and 
red  wine  like  blood.  She  affirms  she  saw  Osburn,  Sarah 
Good,  Goody  Wilds,  Goody  Nurse  :  and  Goody  Wilds  dis¬ 
tributed  the  bread  and  wine ;  and  a  man  in  a  long-crowned 
white  hat  sat  next  the  minister,  and  they  sat  seemingly  at  a 
table,  and  they  filled  out  the  wine  in  tankards.  The  notice 
of  this  meeting  was  given  her  by  Goody 'Wilds.  She,  her¬ 
self  affirms,  did  not  nor  would  not  eat  nor  drink,  but  all  the 
rest  did,  who  were  there  present ;  therefore  they  threatened 
to  torment  her.  The  meeting  was  in  the  pasture  by  Mr. 
Parris’s  house,  and  she  saw  when  Abigail  Williams  ran  out 
to  speak  with  them  ;  but,  by  that  time  Abigail  was  come  a 
little  distance  from  the  house,  this  examinant  was  struck 
blind,  so  that  she  saw  not  with  whom  Abigail  spake.  She 
further  saitli,  that  Goody  Wilds,  to  prevail  with  her  to  sign, 
told  her,  that,  if  she  would  put  her  hand  to  the  book,  she 
would  give  her  some  clothes,  and  would  not  afflict  her  any 
more.  Her  daughter,  Abigail  Hobbs,  being  brought  in  at 
the  same  time,  while  her  mother  was  present,  was  im¬ 
mediately  taken  with  a  dreadful  fit ;  and  her  mother,  being 
asked  who  it  was  that  hurt  her  daughter,  answered  it  was 
Goodman  Corey,  and  she  saw  him  and  the  gentlewoman  of 
Boston  striving  to  break  her  daughter’s  neck.” 


164 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


On  the  next  day,  warrants  were  procured  against 
George  Jacobs,  Sr.,  and  bis  grand-daughter,  Margaret 
Jacobs.  They  were  forthwith  seized  and  brought  in 
by  Constable  Joseph  Neal,  of  Salem,  whose  return  is 
as  follows  :  “  May  10,  1692.  Then  I  apprehended  the 
bodies  of  George  Jacobs,  Sr.,  and  Margaret,  daughter  of 
George  Jacobs,  Jr.,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  above 
warrant.”  The  examinations,  on  this  occasion,  were 
held  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Beadle,  in  the  town  of 
Salem.  All  the  preliminary  examinations,  so  far  as 
existing  documents  show,  were  either  in  the  meeting¬ 
house  at  the  village  or  that  of  the  town ;  or  at  the 
house  of  Nathaniel  Ingersoll  at  the  village,  or  Thomas 
Beadle  in  the  town,  —  both  being  inns,  or  places  of 
public  entertainment.  Beadle’s  house  was  on  the  south 
side  of  Essex  Street,  on  land  now  occupied  by  Nos. 
63  and  65.  The  eastern  boundary  of  the  lot  was  forty- 
nine  feet  from  Ingersoll’s  Lane,  now  Daniels  Street. 
Its  front  on  Essex  Street  was  about  sixty  feet,  and  its 
depth  about  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet.  What  is 
<  now  No.  65  is  on  the  very  spot  where  Beadle’s  tavern 
stood ;  and  with  the  exception  of  six  feet  built,  as  an 
addition,  on  the  eastern  side,  subsequently  to  1733,  is 
probably  the  identical  house.  The  ground  now  occu¬ 
pied  by  No.  63  was  then  an  open  space.  It  appears  by 
bills  of  expenses  brought  “against  the  country,”  that 
the  inn  of  Samuel  Beadle,  a  brother  of  Thomas,  was 
also  sometimes  used  for  purposes  connected  with  the 
prosecutions.  Thomas  Beadle’s  bill  amounted  to  <£58. 
11s.  5d. ;  that  of  Samuel  to  £21.  The  latter,  being 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


165 


near  the  jail,  was  probably  used  for  the  entertainment 
of  constables  and  the  keeping  of  their  horses,  as  well 
as  other  incidental  purposes  connected  with  the  trans¬ 
portation  of  prisoners. 

A  tradition  has  long  prevailed,  that  the  house,  still 
standing,  of  Judge  Jonathan  Corwin,  at  the  western 
corner  of  North  and  Essex  Streets,  was  used  at  these 
examinations.  One  form  in  which  this  tradition  has 
come  down  is  probably  correct.  The  grand  jury  was 
often  in  session  while  the  jury  for  trials  was  hearing 
cases  in  the  Court-house.  There  may  not  have  been 
suitable  accommodations  for  both  in  that  building. 
The  confused  sounds  and  commotions  incident  to  the 
trials  would  have  been  annoying  to  the  grand  jury. 
The  tradition  is,  that  a  place  was  provided  and  used 
temporarily  by  that  body,  in  the  Corwin  house,  sup¬ 
posed  to  have  been  the  spacious  room  at  the  south¬ 
eastern  corner.  As  the  investigations  of  the  grand 
jury  were  not  open  to  the  public,  its  occasional  sittings 
would  not  be  seriously  incompatible  with  the  con¬ 
venience  of  a  family,  or  detrimental  to  the  grounds  or 
apartments  of  a  handsome  private  residence.  Indeed, 
it  would  hardly  have  been  allowable  or  practicable  to 
have  had  the  examinations  before  the  magistrates  in 
any  other  than  a  public  house.  They  were  always  fre¬ 
quented  by  a  promiscuous  crowd,  and  generally  scenes 
of  tumultuary  disorder. 

George  Jacobs,  Sr.,  was  an  aged  man.  lie  is  repre¬ 
sented  in  the  evidence  as  “  very  gray-headed  ;  ”  and  he 
must  have  been  quite  infirm,  for  he  walked  with  two 


166 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


staffs.  Ilis  hair  was  in  long,  thin,  white  locks  ;  and, 
as  lie  was  uncommonly  tall  of  stature,  he  must  have  had 
a  venerable  aspect.  Perhaps  he  was  the  “  man  in  a  long- 
crowned  white  hat,”  referred  to  by  Deliverance  Hobbs. 
The  examination  shows  that  his  faculties  were  vigor¬ 
ous,  his  bearing  fearless,  and  his  utterances  strong  and 
decided.  The  magistrates  began  :  “  Here  are  them  that 
accuse  you  of  acts  of  witchcraft.”  —  “  Well,  let  us  hear 
who  are  they  and  what  are  they.”  When  Abigail 
Williams  testified  against  him,  going  through  un¬ 
doubtedly  her  usual  operations,  he  could  not  refrain 
from  expressing  his  contempt  for  the  whole  thing  by  a 
laugh  ;  explaining  it  by  saying,  “  Because  I  am  falsely 
accused  —  your  worships  all  of  you,  do  you  think  this 
is  true  ?  ”  They  answered,  “  Nay :  what  do  you  think  ?  ” 
“  I  never  did  it.”  —  “  Who  did  it  ?  ”  —  “  Don’t  ask  me.” 
The  magistrates  always  took  it  for  granted  that  the 
pretensions  and  sufferings  of  the  girls  were  real,  and 
threw  upon  the  accused  the  responsibility  of  explaining 
them.  They  continued :  “  Why  should  we  not  ask 
you  ?  Sarah  Churchill  accusetli  you.  There  she  is.” 
Jacobs  was  of  opinion  that  it  was  not  for  him  to  ex¬ 
plain  the  actions  of  the  girls,  but  for  the  prosecuting 
party  to  prove  his  guilt.  “  If  you  can  prove  that  I 
am  guilty,  I  will  lie  under  it.”  Then  Sarah  Churchill, 
who  was  a  servant  in  his  family,  said,  “  Last  night, 
I  was  afflicted  at  Deacon  Ingersoll’s  ;  and  Mary  Walcot 
said  it  was  a  man  with  two  staves  :  it  was  my  master.” 
It  seems,  that,  after  the  proceedings  against  Burroughs 
were  over,  a  meeting  of  u  the  circle  ”  took  place  in  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


167 


evening,  at  Deacon  Ingersoll’s,  at  which  there  was  a 
repetition  of  the  actings  of  the  girls ;  and  that  Mary 
Walcot  suggested  to  Churchill  to  accuse  her  master. 
This  shows  the  way  in  which  the  delusion  was  kept 
up.  Probably,  such  meetings  were  held  at  one  house 
or  another  in  the  village,  and  fresh  accusations  brought 
forward,  continually.  Jacobs  appealed  to  the  magis¬ 
trates,  trying  to  recall  them  to  a  sense  of  fairness. 
“  Pray,  do  not  accuse  me  :  I  am  as  clear  as  your  wor¬ 
ships.  You  must  do  right  judgment.”  Sarah  Churchill 
charged  him  with  having  hurt  her  ;  and  the  magistrates, 
pushing  her  on  to  make  further  charges,  said  to  her, 
“  Did  he  not  appear  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  and 
hurt  you  ?  Did  not  you  see  him  ?  ”  She  answered, 
“  Yes,  he  did.”  Then,  turning  to  him,  the  magistrates 
said,  “  There,  she  accusetli  you  to  your  face  :  she  char- 
geth  you  that  you  hurt  her  twice.”  —  u  It  is  not  true. 
What  would  you  have  me  say  ?  I  never  wronged  no 
man  in  word  nor  deed.” — “Is  it  no  harm  to  afflict 
these  ?  ”  —  “I  never  did  it.”  —  “  But  how  comes  it  to 
be  in  your  appearance?”  —  “The  Devil  can  take  any 
likeness.”  —  “Not  without  their  consent.”  Jacobs 
rejected  the  imputation.  “  You  tax  me  for  a  wizard  : 
you  may  as  well  tax  me  for  a  buzzard.  I  have  done  no 
harm.”  Churchill  said,  “  I  know  you  lived  a  wicked 
life.”  Jacobs,  turning  to  the  magistrates,  said,  “  Let 
her  make  it  out.”  The  magistrates  asked  her,  “  Doth 
he  ever  pray  in  his  family  ?  ”  She  replied,  “  Not  un¬ 
less  by  himself.”  The  magistrates,  addressing  him : 
“  Why  do  you  not  pray  in  your  family  ?  ”  —  “I  cannot 


168 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


read.”  —  “  Well,  but  you  may  pray  for  all  that.  Can 
you  say  the  Lord’s  Prayer  ?  Let  us  hear  you.”  The 
reporter,  Mr.  Parris,  says,  “  He  missed  in  several 
parts  of  it,  and  could  not  repeat  it  right  after  many 
trials.”  The  magistrates,  addressing  her,  said,  “  Were 
you  not  frighted,  Sarah  Churchill,  when  the  repre¬ 
sentation  of  your  master  came  to  you?”  —  “Yes.” 
Jacobs  exclaimed,  “  Well,  burn  me  or  hang  me,  I  will 
stand  in  the  truth  of  Christ :  I  know  nothing  of  it.” 
In  answer  to  an  inquiry  from  the  magistrates,  he  denied 
having  done  any  thing  to  get  his  son  George  or  grand¬ 
daughter  Margaret  to  “  sign  the  book.” 

The  appearance  of  the  old  man,  his  intrepid  bearing, 
and  the  stamp  of  conscious  innocence  on  all  he  said, 
probably  produced  some  impression  on  the  magistrates, 
as  they  did  not  come  to  any  decision,  but  adjourned 
the  examination  to  the  next  day.  The  girls  then 
came  down  from  the  village  in  full  force,  deter¬ 
mined  to  put  him  through.  When  he  was  brought 
in,  they  accordingly,  all  at  once,  “  fell  into  the  most 
grievous  fits  and  screechings.”  When  they  sufficiently 
came  to,  tbe  magistrates  turned  to  the  girls :  “  Is  this 
the  man  that  hurts  you  ?  ”  They  severally  answered, 
—  Abigail  Williams  :  “  This  is  the  man,”  and  fell  into  a 
violent  fit.  Ann  Putnam  :  “  This  is  the  man.  He  hurts 
me,  and  brings  the  book  to  me,  and  would  have  me 
write  in  the  book,  and  said,  if  I  would  write  in  it, 
I  should  be  as  well  as  his  grand-daughter.”  Mercy 
Lewis,  after  much  interruptions  by  fits  :  “  This  is  the 
man  :  he  almost  kills  me.”  Elizabeth  Hubbard  :  “  He 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


169 


never  hurt  me  till  to-day,  when  he  came  upon  the 
table.”  Mary  Walcot,  after  much  interruption  hy  fits  : 
“  This  is  the  man :  he  used  to  come  with  two  staves, 
and  beat  me  with  one  of  them.”  After  all  this,  the 
magistrates,  thinking  he  could  deny  it  no  longer,  turn 
to  him,  “  What  do  you  say  ?  Are  you  not  a  witch  ?  ” 
“  No  :  I  know  it  not,  if  I  were  to  die  presently.”  Mercy 
Lewis  advanced  towards  him,  but,  as  soon  as  she  got 
near,  “  fell  into  great  fits.”  —  “  What  do  you  say  to 
this  ?  ”  cried  the  magistrates.  “  Why,  it  is  false.  I 
know  not  of  it  any  more  than  the  child  that  was  born 
to-night.”  The  reporter  says,  “  Ann  Putnam  and 
Abigail  Williams  had  each  of  them  a  pin  stuck  in 
their  hands,  and  they  said  it  was  this  old  Jacobs.” 
He  was  committed  to  prison. 

The  following  piece  of  evidence  is  among  the  loose 
papers  on  file  in  the  clerk’s  office  :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Sarah  Ingersoll,  aged  about 
thirty  years.  —  Saith,  that,  seeing  Sarah  Churchill  after  her 
examination,  she  came  to  me  crying  and  wringing  her 
hands,  seemingly  to  he  much  troubled  in  spirit.  I  asked 
her  what  she  ailed.  She  answered,  she  had  undon'e  her¬ 
self.  I  asked  her  in  what.  She  said,  in  belying  herself  and 
others  in  saying  she  had  set  her  hand  to  the  Devil’s  hook, 
whereas,  she  said,  she  never  did.  I  told  her  I  believed  she 
had  set  her  baud  to  the  hook.  She  answered,  crying,  and 
said,  ‘  No,  no,  no  :  I  never,  I  never  did.’  I  asked  her  then 
what  made  her  say  she  did.  She  answered,  because  they 
threatened  her,  and  told  her  they  would  put  her  into  the 
dungeon,  and  put  her  along  with  Mr.  Burroughs  ;  and  thus 


170 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


several  times  she  followed  me  up  and  down,  telling  me  that 
she  had  undone  herself,  in  belying  herself  and  others.  I 
asked  her  why  she  did  not  deny  she  wrote  it.  She  told  me, 
because  she  had  stood  out  so  long  in  it,  that  now  she  durst 
not.  She  said  also,  that,  if  she  told  Mr.  Noyes  but  once 
she  had  set  her  hand  to  the  book,  lie  would  believe  her  ;  but, 
if  she  told  the  truth,  and  said  she  had  not  set  her  hand  to  the 
book  a  hundred  times,  he  would  not  believe  her. 

“  Sarah  Ingersoll.” 

This  paper  has  also  the  signature  of  “  Ann  An¬ 
drews.” 

This  incident  probably  occurred  during  the  exami¬ 
nation  of  George  Jacobs  ;  and  the  bitter  compunction 
of  Churchill  was  in  consequence  of  the  false  and  ma¬ 
lignant  course  she  had  been  pursuing  against  her  old 
master.  It  is  a  relief  to  our  feelings,  so  far  as  she  is 
regarded,  to  suppose  so.  Bad  as  her  conduct  was  as 
one  of  the  accusers,  on  other  occasions  after  I  am 
sorry  to  say  as  well  as  before,  it  shows  that  she  was 
not  entirely  dead  to  humanity,  but  realized  the  iniquity 
of  which  she  had  been  guilty  towards  him.  It  is  the 
only  instance  of  which  we  find  notice  of  any  such  a 
remnant  of  conscience  showing  itself,  at  the  time, 
among  those  perverted  and  depraved  young  persons. 
The  reason,  why  it  is  probable  that  this  exhibition  of 
Churchill’s  penitential  tears  and  agonies  of  remorse 
occurred  immediately  after  the  first  day  of  Jacobs’s 
examination,  is  this.  It  was  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  first,  held  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Beadle.  Sarah 
Ingersoll  would  not  have  been  likely  to  have  fallen  in 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


171 


with  her  elsewhere.  It  is  evident,  from  the  tenor  and 
purport  of  the  document,  that  the  deponent  was  not 
entirely  carried  away  by  the  prevalent  delusion,  and 
probably  did  not  follow  up  the  proceedings  generally. 
But  it  was  quite  natural  that  her  attention  should 
have  been  called  to  proceedings  of  interest  at  Beadle’s 
house,  particularly  on  that  first  occasion.  She  lived 
in  the  immediate  vicinity.  The  indorsement  by  Ann 
Andrews,  the  daughter  of  Jacobs,  increases  the  prob¬ 
ability  that  the  occurrence  was  at  his  examination. 

The  representatives  of  the  family  of  John  Ingersoll, 
—  a  brother  of  Deacon  Nathaniel  Ingersoll,  —  in  1692, 
occupied  a  series  of  houses  on  the  west  side  of  Dan¬ 
iels  Street,  leading  from  Essex  Street  to  the  harbor. 
The  widow  of  John’s  son  Nathaniel  lived  at  the  corner 
of  Essex  and  Daniels  Streets  ;  the  next  in  order  was 
the  widow  of  his  son  John ;  the  next,  his  daughter 
Ruth,  wife  of  Richard  Rose ;  the  next,  the  widow  of 
his  son  Richard  ;  the  last,  his  son  Samuel,  whose  house 
lot  extended  to  the  water.  Sarah,  the  witness  in  this 
case,  was  the  wife  of  Samuel,  and  afterwards  became 
the  second  wife  of  Philip  English.  One  of  her  chil¬ 
dren  appears  to  have  married  a  son  of  Beadle.  Their 
immediate  proximity  to  the  Beadle  house,  and  conse¬ 
quent  intimacy  with  his  family,  led  them  to  become 
conversant  with  what  occurred  there  ;  ‘and  Sarah  Inger¬ 
soll  was,  in  that  way,  likely  to  meet  Churchill,  and  to 
have  the  conversation  with  her  to  which  she  deposes. 

This  brief  deposition  of  Sarah  Ingersoll  is,  in  many 
particulars,  an  important  and  instructive  paper.  It 


172 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


exhibits  incidentally  the  means  employed  to  keep  the 
accusing  girls  and  confessing  witnesses  from  falling 
back,  and,  by  overawing  them,  to  prevent  their  acknowl¬ 
edging  the  falseness  of  their  testimony.  It  shows  how 
difficult  it  was  to  obtain  a  hearing,  if  they  were  dis¬ 
posed  to  recant.  It  presents  Mr.  Noyes  —  as  all  along 
there  is  too  much  evidence  compelling  us  to  admit 
—  acting  a  part  as  bad  as  that  of  Parris ;  and  it  dis¬ 
closes  the  fact,  that  Mr.  Burroughs,  although  not  yet 
brought  to  trial,  was  immured  in  a  dungeon. 

No  papers  are  on  file,  or  have  been  obtained,  in 
reference  to  the  examination  of  Margaret  Jacobs,  which 
was  at  the  same  time  and  place  witli  that  of  her  grand¬ 
father.  We  shall  hear  of  her  in  subsequent  stages  of 
the  transaction. 

On  the  same  day  —  May  10  —  that  George  and  Mar¬ 
garet  Jacobs  were  apprehended  and  examined,  a  war¬ 
rant  was  issued  against  John  Willard,  “  husbandman,” 
to  be  brought  to  Thomas  Beadle’s  house  in  Salem. 
On  the  12th,  John  Putnam,  Jr.,  constable,  made  return 
that  he  had  been  to  “  the  house  of  the  usual  abode  of 
John  Willard,  and  made  search  for  him,  and  in  several 
other  houses  and  places,  but  could  not  find  him  and 
that  “  his  relations  and  friends  ”  said,  “  that,  to  their 
best  knowledge,  he  was  fled.”  On  the  15th,  a  warrant 
was  issued  to  the  marshal  of  Essex,  and  the  constables 
of  Salem,  “  or  any  other  marshal,  or  marshal’s  constable 
or  constables  within  this  their  majesty’s  colony  or  terri¬ 
tory  of  the  Massachusetts,  in  New  England,”  requiring 
them  to  apprehend  said  Willard,  “  if  he  may  be  found 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


173 


in  your  precincts,  who  stands  charged  with  sundry 
acts  of  witchcraft,  by  him  done  or  committed  on  the 
bodies  of  Bray  Wilkins,  and  Samuel  Wilkins,  the  son 
of  Henry  Wilkins,”  and  others,  upon  complaint  made 
“  by  Thomas  Fuller,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin  Wilkins,  Sr., 
yeomen  ;  who,  being  found,  you  are  to  convey  from 
town  to  town,  from  constable  to  constable,  ...  to 
be  prosecuted  according  to  the  direction  of  Constable 
John  Putnam,  of  Salem  Village,  who  goes  with  the 
same.”  On  the  18th  of  May,  Constable  Putnam 
brought  in  Willard,  and  delivered  him  to  the  magis¬ 
trates.  He  was  seized  in  Groton.  There  is  no  record 
of  his  examination ;  but  we  gather,  from  the  papers 
on  file,  the  following  facts  relating  to  this  interesting 
case : — 

It  is  said  that  Willard  had  been  called  upon  to  aid 
in  the  arrest,  custody,  and  bringing-in  of  persons  ac¬ 
cused,  acting  as  a  deputy-constable ;  and,  from  his 
observation  of  the  deportment  of  the  prisoners,  and 
from  all  he  heard  and  saw,  his  sympathies  became 
excited  in  their  behalf ;  and  he  expressed,  in  more  or 
less  unguarded  terms,  his  disapprobation  of  the  pro¬ 
ceedings.  He  seems  to  have  considered  all  hands 
concerned  in  the  business  —  accusers,  accused,  magis¬ 
trates,  and  people  —  as  alike  bewitched.  One  of  the 
witnesses  against  him  deposed,  that  he  said,  in  a  “  dis¬ 
course  ”  at  the  house  of  a  relative,  “  Hang  them  :  they 
are  all  witches.”  In  consequence  of  this  kind  of 
talk,  in  which  he  indulged  as  early  as  April,  he  in¬ 
curred  the  ill-will  of  the  parties  engaged  in  the  prose- 


174 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


cutions ;  and  it  was  whispered  about  that  he  was 
himself  in  the  diabolical  confederacy.  He  was  a 
grandson  of  Bray  Wilkins ;  and  the  mind  of  the  old 
man  became  prejudiced  against  him,  and  most  of  his 
family  connections  and  neighbors  partook  of  the  feel¬ 
ing.  When  Willard  discovered  that  such  rumors  were 
in  circulation  against  him,  he  went  to  his  grand¬ 
father  for  counsel  and  the  aid  of  his  prayers.  He 
met  with  a  cold  reception,  as  appears  by  the  deposition 
of  the  old  man  as  follows  :  — 

“When  John  Willard  was  first  complained  of  by  the 
afflicted  persons  for  afflicting  of  them,  he  came  to  my  house, 
greatly  troubled,  desiring  me,  with  some  other  neighbors,  to 
pray  for  him.  I  told  him  I  was  then  going  from  home,  and 
could  not  stay ;  but,  if  I  could  come  home  before  night,  I 
should  not  be  unwilling.  But  it  was  near  night  before  I  came 
home,  and  so  I  did  not  answer  his  desire  ;  but  I  heard  no  more 
of  him  upon  that  account.  Whether  my  not  answering  his 
desire  did  not  offend  him,  I  cannot  tell ;  but  I  was  jealous, 
afterwards,  that  it  did.” 

Willard  soon  after  made  an  engagement  to  go  to 
Boston,  on  election-week,  with  Henry  Wilkins,  Jr.  A 
son  of  said  Henry  Wilkins,  named  Daniel, —  a  youth 
of  seventeen  years  of  age,  who  had  heard  the  stories 
against  Willard,  and  believed  them  all,  remonstrated 
with  his  father  against  going  to  Boston  with  Willard, 
and  seemed  much  distressed  at  the  thought,  saying, 
among  other  things,  “  It  were  well  if  the  said  Willard 
were  hanged.” 

Old  Bray  Wilkins  must  go  to  election  too ;  and  so 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


175 


started  off  on  horseback,  —  the  only  mode  of  travel 
then  practicable  from  Will’s  Hill  to  Winnesimit  Ferry, 
— with  his  wife  on  a  pillion  behind  him.  He  was  eighty- 
two  years  of  age,  and  she  probably  not  much  less ;  for 
she  had  been  the  wife  of  his  youth.  The  old  couple 
undoubtedly  had  an  active  time  that  week  in  Boston. 
It  was  a  great  occasion,  and  the  whole  country  flocked 
in  to  partake  in  the  ceremonies  and  services  of  the 
anniversary.  On  Election-day,  with  his  wife,  he  rode 
out  to  Dorchester,  to  dine  at  the  house  of  his  “  brother, 
Lieutenant  Richard  Way.”  Deodat  Lawson  and  his 
new  wife,  and  several  more,  joined  them  at  table.  Be¬ 
fore  sitting  down,  Henry  Wilkins  and  John  Willard 
also  came  in.  Willard,  perhaps,  did  not  feel  very 
agreeably  towards  his  grandfather,  at  the  time,  for 
having  shown  an  unwillingness  to  pray  with  him.  The 
old  man  either  saw,  or  imagined  he  saw,  a  very  un¬ 
pleasant  expression  in  Willard’s  countenance.  “  To 
my  apprehension,  he  looked  after  such  a  sort  upon  me 
as  I  never  before  discerned  in  any.”  The  long  and 
hard  travel,  the  fatigues  and  excitements  of  election- 
week,  were  too  much  for  the  old  man,  tough  and  rugged 
as  he  was  ;  and  a  severe  attack  of  a  complaint,  to  which 
persons  of  his  age  are  often  subject,  came  on.  He 
experienced  great  sufferings,  and,  as  he  expressed  it, 
“'was  like  a  man  on  a  rack.” 

“  I  told  my  wife  immediately  that  I  was  afraid  that  Willard 
had  done  me  wrong ;  my  pain  continuing,  and  finding  no  re¬ 
lief,  my  jealousy  continued.  Mr.  Lawson  and  others  there 
were  all  amazed,  and  kneAv  not  what  to  do  for  me.  There  was 


176 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 
* 


a  woman  accounted  skilful  came  hoping  to  help  me,  and  after 
she  had  used  means,  she  asked  me  whether  none  of  those 
evil  persons  had  done  me  damage.  I  said,  I  could  not  say 
they  had,  but  I  was  sore  afraid  they  had.  She  answered, 
she  did  fear  so  too.  .  .  .  As  near  as  I  remember.  I  lay  in 
this  case  three  or  four  days  at  Boston,  and  afterward,  with 
the  jeopardy  of  my  life  (as  I  thought),  I  came  home.” 

On  his  return,  he  found  his  grandson,  the  same 
Daniel  who  had  warned  Henry  Wilkins  against  going 
to  Boston  with  John  Willard,  on  his  death -bed,  in 
great  suffering.  Another  attack  of  his  own  malady 
came  on.  There  was  great  consternation  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood,  and  throughout  the  village.  The  Devil  and 
his  confederates,  it  was  thought,  were  making  an  awful 
onslaught  upon  the  people  at  Will’s  Hill.  Parris  and 
others  rushed  to  the  scene.  Mercy  Lewis  and  Mary 
Walcot  were  carried  up  to  tell  who  it  was  that  was  be¬ 
witching  old  Bray,  and  young  Daniel,  and  others  of  the 
Wilkinses  who  had  caught  the  contagion,  and  were 
experiencing  or  imagining  all  sorts  of  bodily  ails. 
They  were  taken  to  the  room  where  Daniel  was  ap¬ 
proaching  his  death-agonies ;  and  they  both  affirmed, 
that  they  saw  the  spectres  of  old  Mrs.  Buckley 
and  John  Willard  “upon  his  throat  and  upon  his 
breast,  and  pressed  him  and  choked  him ;  ”  and  the 
cruel  operation,  they  insisted  upon  it,  continued  until 
the  boy  died.  The  girls  were  carried  to  the  bedroom 
of  the  old  man,  who  was  in  great  suffering ;  and,  when 
they  entered,  the  question  was  put  by  the  anxious  and 
excited  friends  in  the  chamber  to  Mercy  Lewis,  whether 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


177 


she  saw  any  tiling.  She  said,  “  Yes  :  they  are  looking 
for  John  Willard.”  Presently  she  pretended  to  have 
caught  sight  of  his  apparition,  and  exclaimed,  “  There 
he  is  upon  his  grandfather’s  belly.”  This  was  thought 
wonderful  indeed  ;  for,  as  the  old  man  says  in  a  depo¬ 
sition  he  drew  up  afterwards,  “  At  that  time  I  was  in 
grievous  pain  in  the  small  of  my  belly.” 

Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  had  her  story  to  tell  about  John 
Willard.  Its  substance  is  seen  in  a  deposition  drawn 
up  about  the  time,  and  is  in  the  same  vein  as  her 
testimony  in  other  cases ;  presenting  a  problem  to 
be  solved  by  those  who  can  draw  the  line  between 
semi-insane  hallucination  and  downright  fabrication. 
Her  deposition  is  as  follows  :  — 

“That  the  shape  of  Samuel  Fuller  and  Lydia  Wilkins 
this  day  told  me  at  my  own  house  by  the  bedside,  who  ap¬ 
peared  in  winding-sheets,  that,  if  I  did  not  go  and  tell  Mr. 
Ilathorne  that  John  Willard  had  murdered  them,  they  would 
tear  me  to  pieces.  I  knew  them  when  they  were  living,  and 
it  was  exactly  their  resemblance  and  shape.  And,  at  the 
same  time,  the  apparition  of  John  Willard  told  me  that  he 
had  killed  Samuel  Fuller,  Lydia  Wilkins,  Goody  Shaw,  and 
Fuller’s  second  wife,  and  Aaron  Way’s  child,  and  Ben  Fuller’s 
child  ;  and  this  deponent’s  child  Sarah,  six  weeks  old  ;  and 
Philip  Knight’s  child,  with  the  help  of  William  Hobbs  ;  and 
Jonathan  Knight’s  child  and  two  of  Ezekiel  Cheever’s  child¬ 
ren  with  the  help  of  William  Ilobbs ;  Anne  Eliot  and 
Isaac  Nichols  with  the  help  of  William  Hobbs  ;  and  that  if 
Mr.  Ilathorne  would  not  believe  them,  —  that  is,  Samuel 
Fuller  and  Lydia  Wilkins,  —  perhaps  they  would  appear  to 

12 


VOL.  II. 


178 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  magistrates.  Joseph  Fuller’s  apparition  the  same  day 
also  came  to  me,  and  told  me  that  Goody  Corey  had  killed 
him.  The  spectre  aforesaid  told  me,  that  vengeance,  ven¬ 
geance,  was  cried  by  said  Fuller.  This  relation  is  true. 

“  Ann  Putnam.” 

It  appears  by  sucli  papers  as  are  to  be  found  relating 
to  Willard’s  case,  that  a  coroner’s  jury  was  held  over  the 
body  of  Daniel  Wilkins,  of  which  Nathaniel  Putnam 
was  foreman.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the 
finding  of  that  jury  is  lost.  It  would  be  a  real 
curiosity.  That  it  was  veiy  decisive  to  the  point, 
affirmed  by  Mercy  Lewis  and  Mary  Walcot,  that  Daniel 
was  choked  and  strangled  by  the  spectres  of  John 
Willard  and  Goody  Buckley,  is  apparent  from  the 
manner  in  which  Bray  Wilkins  speaks  of  it.  In  an 
argument  between  him  and  some  persons  who  were 
expressing  their  confidence  that  John  Willard  was  an 
innocent  man,  he  sought  to  relieve  himself  from  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  Willard’s  conviction  by  saying,  “  It 
was  not  I,  nor  my  son  Benjamin  Wilkins,  but  the 
testimony  of  the  afflicted  persons,  and  the  jury  con¬ 
cerning  the  murder  of  my  grandson,  Daniel  Wilkins, 
that  would  take  away  his  life,  if  any  thing  did.”  Mr. 
Parris,  of  course,  was  in  the  midst  of  these  proceedings 
at  Will’s  Hill;  attended  the  visits  of  the  afflicted  girls 
when  they  went  to  ascertain  who  were  the  witches 
murdering  young  Daniel  and  torturing  the  old  man  ; 
was  present,  no  doubt,  at  the  solemn  examinations  and 
investigations  of  the  sages  who  sat  as  a  jury  of  inquest 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


179 


over  the  former,  and,  in  all  likelihood,  made,  as 
usual,  a  written  report  of  the  same.  As  soon  as  he 
got  hack  to  his  house,  he  discharged  his  mind,  and 
indorsed  the  verdict  of  the  coroner’s  jury  by  this 
characteristic  insertion  in  his  church-records  :  “  Dan  : 
Wilkins.  Bewitched  to  death.”  The  very  next 
entry  relates  to  a  case  of  which  this  obituary  line,  in 
Air.  Parris’s  church-book,  is  the  only  intimation  that 
has  come  down  to  us,  “  Daughter  to  Ann  Douglas.  By 
witchcraft,  I  doubt  not.”  Willard’s  examination  was 
at  Beadle’s,  on  the  18th.  With  this  deluge  of  accusa¬ 
tions  and  tempest  of  indignation  beating  upon  him,  he 
had  but  little  chance,  and  was  committed. 

While  the  marshals  and  constables  were  in  pursuit 
of  Willard,  the  time  was  well  improved  by  the  prose¬ 
cutors.  On  the  12th  of  May,  warrants  were  issued  to 
apprehend,  and  bring  “  forthwith  ”  before  the  magis¬ 
trates  sitting  at  Beadle’s,  “  Alice  Parker,  the  wife  of 
John  Parker  of  Salem ;  and  Ann  Pudeator  of  Salem, 
widow.”  Alice,  commonly  called  Elsie,  Parker  was 
the  wife  of  a  mariner.  We  know  but  little  of  her. 
We  have  a  deposition  of  one  woman,  Martha  Dutch, 
as  follows :  — 

“  This  deponent  testified  and  saith,  that,  about  two  years 
last  past,  John  Jarman,  of  Salem,  coming  in  from  sea,  I 
(this  deponent  and  Alice  Parker,  of  Salem,  both  of  us  stand¬ 
ing  together)  said  unto  her,  ‘  What  a  great  mercy  it  was,  for 
to  see  them  come  home  well ;  and  through  mercy,’  I  said, 
‘  my  husband  had  gone,  and  come  home  well,  many  times.’ 
And  I,  this  deponent,  did  say  unto  the  said  Parker,  that  ‘  I 


180 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


did  hope  he  would  come  home  this  voyage  well  also.’  And 
the  said  Parker  made  answer  unto  me,  and  said,  ‘  No  :  never 
more  in  this  world.’  The  which  came  to  pass  as  she  then 
told  me ;  for  he  died  abroad,  as  I  certainly  hear.” 

Perhaps  Parker  had  information  which  had  not 
reached  the  ears  of  Dutch,  or  she  may  have  been 
prone  to  take  melancholy  views  of  the  dangers  to 
which  seafaring  people  are  exposed.  It  was  a  strange 
kind  of  evidence  to  be  admitted  against  a  person  in  a 
trial  for  witchcraft. 

Samuel  Shattuck,  who  has  been  mentioned  (vol.  i. 
p.  198)  in  connection  with  Bridget  Bishop,  had  a 
long  story  to  tell  about  Alice  Parker.  He  seems  to 
have  been  very  active  in  getting  up  charges  of  witch¬ 
craft  against  persons  in  his  neighborhood,  and  on  the 
most  absurd  and  frivolous  grounds.  Parker  had 
made  a  friendly  call  upon  his  wife  ;  and,  not  long  after, 
one  of  his  children  fell  sick,  and  he  undertook  to 
suspect  that  it  was  “  under  an  evil  hand.”  In  simi¬ 
lar  circumstances,  he  took  the  same  grudge  against 
Bridget  Bishop.  Alice  Parker,  hearing  that  he  had 
been  circulating  suspicions  to  that  effect  against  her, 
went  to  his  house  to  remonstrate ;  an  angry  alter¬ 
cation  took  place  between  them ;  and  he  gave  his 
version  of  the  affair  in  evidence.  There  was  no  one 
to  present  the  other  side.  But  the  whole  thing  has, 
not  only  a  one-sided,  but  an  irrelevant  character,  in  no 
wise  bearing  upon  the  point  of  witchcraft.  All  the 
gossip,  scandal,  and  tittle-tattle  of  the  neighborhood 
for  twenty  years  back,  in  this  case  as  in  others,  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


181 


raked  up,  and  allowed  to  be  adduced,  however  utterly 
remote  from  the  questions  belonging  to  the  trial. 

The  following  singular  piece  of  testimony  against 
Alice  Parker  may  be  mentioned.  John  Westgate  was 
at  Samuel  Beadle’s  tavern  one  night  with  boon  com¬ 
panions  ;  among  them  John  Parker,  the  husband  of 
Alice.  She  disapproved  of  her  husband’s  spending  his 
evenings  in  such  company,  and  in  a  bar-room;  and 
felt  it  necessary  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  if  she  could. 
Westgate  says  that  she  “  came  into  the  company,  and 
scolded  at  and  called  her  husband  all  to  nought ; 
whereupon  I,  the  said  deponent,  took  her  husband’s 
part,  telling  her  it  was  an  unbeseeming  thing  for  her  to 
come  after  him  to  the  tavern,  and  rail  after  that  rate^ 
With  that  she  came  up  to  me,  and  called  me  rogue, 
and  bid  me  mind  my  own  business,  and  told  me  I  had 
better  have  said  nothing.”  He  goes  on  to  state,  that, 
returning  home  one  night  some  time  afterwards,  he  ex¬ 
perienced  an  awful  fright.  “  Going  from  the  house  of 
Mr.  Daniel  King,  when  I  came  over  against  John 
Robinson’s  house,  I  heard  a  great  noise  ;  .  .  .  and  there 
appeared  a  black  hog  running  towards  me  with  open 
mouth,  as  though  he  would  have  devoured  me  at  that 
instant  time.”  In  the  extremity  of  his  terror,  he  tried 
to  run  away  from  the  awful  monster ;  but,  as  might 
have  been  expected  under  the  circumstances,  he  tum¬ 
bled  to  the  ground.  “  I  fell  down  upon  my  hip,  and  my 
knife  run  into  my  hip  up  to  the  haft.  When  I  came 
home,  my  knife  was  in  my  sheath.  When  I  drew  it 
out  of  the  sheath,  then  immediately  the  sheath  fell  all 


182 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  pieces.”  And  further  this  deponent  testifieth,  that, 
after  he  got  up  from  his  fall,  his  stocking  and  shoe 
was  full  of  blood,  and  that  he  was  forced  to  crawl 
along  by  the  fence  all  the  way  home ;  and  the  hog  fol¬ 
lowed  him,  and  never  left  him  till  he  came  home.  He 
further  stated  that  he  was  accompanied  all  the  way  by 
his  “  stout  dog,”  which  ordinarily  was  much  inclined 
to  attack  and  “  worry  hogs,”  but,  on  this  occasion,  “  ran 
away  from  him,  leaping  over  the  fence  and  crying 
much.”  In  view  of  all  these  tilings,  Westgate  con¬ 
cludes  his  testimony  thus :  “  Which  hog  I  then  ap¬ 
prehended  was  either  the  Devil  or  some  evil  thing, 
not  a  real  hog  ;  and  did  then  really  judge,  or  determine 
in  my  mind,  that  it  was  either  Goody  Parker  or  by  her 
means  and  procuring,  fearing  that  she  is  a  witch.” 
The  facts  were  probably  these :  The  sheath  was  broken 
by  his  fall,  his  skin  bruised,  and  some  blood  got  into  his 
stocking  and  shoe.  The  knife  was  never  out  of  the 
sheath  until  he  drew  it ;  there  was  no  mystery  or  witch¬ 
craft  in  it.  Nothing  was  ever  more  natural  than  the 
conduct  of  the  dog.  When  he  saw  Westgate  frightened 
out  of  his  wits  at  nothing,  trying  to  run  as  for  dear 
life  when  there  was  no  pursuer,  staggering  and  pitch¬ 
ing  along  in  a  zigzag  direction  with  very  eccentric 
motions,  falling  heels  over  head,  and  then  crawling 
along,  holding  himself  up  by  the  fence,  and  all  the 
time  looking  back  with  terror,  and  perhaps  attempting 
to  express  Ids  consternation,  the  dog  could  not  tell 
what  to  make  of  it ;  and  ran  off,  as  a  dog  would  be 
likely  to  have  done,  jumping  over  the  fences,  barking, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


183 


and  littering  the  usual  canine  ejaculations.  Dogs 
sympathize  with  their  masters,  and,  if  there  is  a  frolic 
or  other  acting  going  on,  are  fond  of  joining  in  it. 
The  whole  thing  was  in  consequence  of  Westgate’s  not 
having  profited  by  Alice  Parker’s  rebuke,  and  dis¬ 
continued  his  visits  by  night  to  Beadle’s  bar-room. 
The  only  reason  why  he  saw  the  “  black  hog  with  the 
open  mouth,”  and  the  dog  did  not  see  it,  and  therefore 
failed  to  come  to  his  protection,  was  because  he  had 
been  drinking  and  the  dog  had  not. 

We  find  among  the  papers  relating  to  these  trans¬ 
actions  many  other  instances  of  this  kind  of  testimony  ; 
sounds  heard  and  sights  seen  by  persons  going  home 
at  night  through  woods,  after  having  spent  the  evening 
under  the  bewildering  influences  of  talk  about  witches, 
Satan,  ghosts,  and  spectres;  sometimes,  as  in  this  case, 
stimulated  by  other  causes  of  excitement. 

Perhaps  some  persons  may  be  curious  to  know  the 
route  by  which  Westgate  made  out  to  reach  his  home, 
while  pursued  by  the  horrors  of  that  midnight  experi¬ 
ence.  He  seems  to  have  frequented  Samuel  Beadle’s 
bar-room.  That  old  Narragansett  soldier  owned  a  lot 
on  the  west  side  of  St.  Peter’s  Street,  occupying  the 
southern  corner  of  what  is  now  Church  Street,  which 
was  opened  ten  years  afterwards,  that  is,  in  1702,  by 
the  name  of  Epps’s  Lane.  On  that  lot  his  tavern  stood. 
He  also  owned  one-third  of  an  acre  at  the  present  cor¬ 
ner  of  Brown  and  St.  Peter’s  Streets,  on  which  he  had 
a  stable  and  barn  ;  so  that  his  grounds  were  on  both 
sides  of  St.  Peter’s  Street,  —  one  parcel  on  the  west, 


184 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


nearly  opposite  the  present  front  of  the  church ;  the 
other  on  the  east  side  of  St.  Peter's  Street,  opposite 
the  south  side  of  the  church.  From  this  locality 
Westgate  started.  He  probably  did  not  go  down 
Brown  Street,  for  that  was  then  a  dark,  unfrequented 
lane,  but  thought  it  safest  to  get  into  Essex  Street. 
He  made  his  way  along  that  street,  passing  the  Com¬ 
mon,  the  southern  side  of  which,  at  that  time,  with  the 
exception  of  some  house-lots  on  and  contiguous  to 
the  site  of  the  Franklin  Building,  bordered  on  Essex 
Street.  The  casualty  of  his  fall ;  the  catastrophe  to 
his  hip,  stocking,  and  shoe  ;  and  the  witchery  practised 
upon  his  knife  and  its  sheath,  — occurred  “  over  against 
John  Robinson’s  house,”  which  was  on  the  eastern 
corner  of  Pleasant  and  Essex  Streets.  Christopher 
Babbage’s  house,  from  which  he  thought  the  “  great 
noise  ”  came,  was  next  beyond  Robinson’s.  He  crawled 
along  the  fences  and  the  sides  of  the  houses  until  he 
reached  the  passage-way  on  the  western  side  of  Thomas 
Beadle’s  house,  and  through  that  managed  to  get  to 
his  own  house,  which  was  directly  south  of  said  Bea¬ 
dle’s  lot,  between  it  and  the  harbor. 

There  is  one  item  in  reference  to  Alice  Parker, 
which  indicates  that  the  zeal  of  the  prosecutors  in 
her  case,  as  in  that  of  Mr.  Burroughs,  and  perhaps 
others,  was  aggravated  by  a  suspicion  that  she  was 
heretical  on  some  points  of  the  prevalent  creed  of  the 
day.  Parris  says  that  “  Mr.  Noyes,  at  the  time  of  her 
examination,  affirmed  to  her  face,  that,  he  being  with 
her  at  a  time  of  sickness,  discoursing  with  her  about 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


185 


witchcraft,  whether  she  were  not  guilty,  she  an¬ 
swered,  ‘  if  she  was  as  free  from  other  sins  as  from 
witchcraft,  she  would  not  ask  of  the  Lord  mercy.’  ” 
The  manner  of  expression  in  this  passage  shows  that 
it  was  thought  that  there  was  something  very  shocking 
in  her  answer.  Mr.  Noyes  “  affirmed  to  her  face.” 
No  doubt  it  was  thought  that  she  denied  the  doctrine 
of  original  and  transmitted,  or  imputed  sin. 

Ann  Pudeator  (pronounced  Pud-e-tor)  was  the  widow 
of  Jacob  Pudeator,  and  probably  about  seventy  years  of 
age.  The  name  is  spelt  variously,  and  was  originally,  as 
it  is  sometimes  found,  Poindexter.  She  was  a  woman 
of  property,  owning  two  estates  on  the  north  line  of  the 
Common  ;  that  on  which  she  lived  comprised  what  is 
between  Oliver  and  Winter  Streets.  She  was  arrested 
and  brought  to  examination  on  the  12th  of  May. 
There  is  ground  to  conclude,  from  the  tenor  of  the 
documents,  that  she  was  then  discharged.  Some  peo¬ 
ple  in  the  town  were  determined  to  gratify  their  spleen 
against  her,  and  procured  her  re-arrest.  The  exami¬ 
nation  took  place  on  the  2d  of  July,  and  she  was  their 
committed.  The  evidence  was,  if  possible,  more 
frivolous  and  absurd  than  in  other  cases.  The  girls 
acted  their  usual  parts,  giving,  on  this  occasion,  a  par¬ 
ticularly  striking  exhibition  of  the  transmission  of 
the  diabolical  virus  out  of  themselves  back  into  the 
witch  by  a  touch  of  her  body.  “  Ann  Putnam  fell  into 
a  fit,  and  said  Pudeator  was  commanded  to  take  her 
by  the  wrist,  and  did  ;  and  said  Putnam  was  well  pres¬ 
ently.  Mary  Warren  fell  into  two  fits  quickly,  after 


186 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


one  another ;  and  both  times  was  helped  by  said 
Pndeator’s  taking  her  by  the  wrist.” 

When  well  acted,  this  must  have  been  one  of  the 
most  impressive  and  effective  of  all  the  methods  em¬ 
ployed  in  these  performances.  To  see  a  young  woman 
or  girl  suddenly  struck  down,  speechless,  pallid  as  in 
death  ;  with  muscles  rigid,  eyeballs  fixed  or  rolled  back 
in  their  sockets  ;  the  stiffened  frame  either  wholly  pros¬ 
trate  or  drawn  up  into  contorted  attitudes  and  shapes, 
or  vehemently  convulsed  with  racking  pains,  or  drop¬ 
ping  with  relaxed  muscles  into  a  lifeless  lump ;  and  to 
hear  dread  shrieks  of  delirious  ravings,  —  must  have 
produced  a  truly  frightful  effect  upon  an  excited  and 
deluded  assembly.  The  constables  and  their  assistants 
would  go  to  the  rescue,  lift  the  body  of  the  sufferer, 
and  bear  it  in  their  arms  towards  the  prisoner.  The 
magistrates  and  the  crowd,  hushed  in  the  deepest 
silence,  would  watch  with  breathless  awe  the  result  of 
the  experiment,  while  the  officers  slowly  approached 
the  accused,  who,  when  they  came  near,  would,  in 
bhedience  to  the  order  of  the  magistrates,  hold  out  a 
hand,  and  touch  the  flesh  of  the  afflicted  one.  In¬ 
stantly  the  spasms  cease,  the  eyes  open,  color  returns 
to  the  countenance,  the  limbs  resume  their  position 
and  functions,  and  life  and  intelligence  are  wholly  re¬ 
stored.  The  sufferer  comes  to  herself,  walks  back,  and 
takes  her  seat  as  well  as  ever.  The  effect  upon  the 
accused  person  must  have  been  confounding.  It  is  a 
wonder  that  it  did  not  oftener  break  them  down.  It 
sometimes  did.  Poor  Deliverance  Hobbs,  when  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


187 


process  was  tried  upon  her,  was  wholly  overcome,  and 
passed  from  conscious  and  calmly  asserted  innocence 
to  a  helpless  abandonment  of  reason,  conscience,  and 
herself,  exclaiming,  “  I  am  amazed  !  I  am  amazed  !  ” 
and  assented  afterwards  to  every  charge  brought 
against  her,  and  said  whatever  she  was  told,  or  sup¬ 
posed  they  wished  her  to  say. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  warrants  were  issued  against 
Daniel  Andrew  ;  George  Jacobs,  Jr.  ;  his  wife,  Rebecca 
Jacobs  ;  Sarah  Buckley,  wife  of  William  Buckley  ;  and 
Mary  Whittredge,  daughter  of  said  Buckley,  —  all  of 
Salem  Village  ;  Elizabeth  Hart,  wife  of  Isaac  Hart, 
of  Lynn ;  Thomas  Farrar,  Sr.,  also  of  Lynn ;  Eliza¬ 
beth  Colson,  of  Reading ;  and  Bcthiah  Carter,  of 
Woburn.  ■'There  is  nothing  of  special  interest  among 
the  few  papers  that  are  on  file  relating  to  Hart,  Colson, 
or  Carter.  The  constable  made  return  that  he  had 
searched  the  houses  of  Daniel  Andrew  and  George 
Jacobs,  Jr.,  but  could  not  find  them.  He  brought  in 
forthwith  the  bodies  of  Sarah  Buckley,  Mary  Whit¬ 
tredge,  and  Rebecca  Jacobs.  Farrar  and  the  rest  were 
brought  in  shortly  afterwards. 

Daniel  Andrew  was  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
village,  and  the  warrant  against  him  was  proof  that 
soon  none  would  be  too  high  to  be  reached  by  the 
prosecutors.  He  felt  that  it  was  in  vain  to  attempt  to 
resist  their  destructive  power ;  and,  getting  notice  in 
some  way  of  the  approach  of  the  constable,  with  his 
near  neighbor,  friend,  and  connection,  George  Jacobs, 


188 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Jr.,  effected  his  escape,  and  found  refuge  in  a  foreign 
country. 

Rebecca,  the  wife  of  George  Jacobs,  Jr.,  was  the 
victim  of  a  partial  derangement.  Her  daughter  Mar¬ 
garet  was  already  in  jail.  Her  husband  had  escaped 
by  a  hurried  flight,  and  his  father  was  in  prison  await¬ 
ing  his  trial.  She  was  left  in  a  lonely  and  unprotected 
condition,  in  a  country  but  thinly  settled,  in  the  midst 
of  woods.  The  constable  came  with  his  warrant  for 
her.  She  was  driven  to  desperation,  and  was  inclined 
to  resist ;  but  he  persuaded  her  to  go  with  him  by  hold¬ 
ing  out  the  inducement  that  she  would  soon  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  return.  Four  young  children,  one  of  them 
an  infant,  were  left  in  the  house  ;  but  those  who  were 
old  enough  to  walk  followed  after,  crying1;  endeavor¬ 
ing  to  overtake  her.  Some  of  the  neighbors  took  them 
into  their  houses.  The  imprisonment  of  a  woman  in 
her  situation  and  mental  condition  was  an  outrage ; 
but  she  was  kept  in  irons,  as  they  all  were,  for  eight 
months.  Her  mother  addressed  an  humble  but  ear¬ 
nest  and  touching  petition  to  the  chief-justice  of  the 
court  at  Salem,  setting  forth  her  daughter’s  condition  ; 
but  it  was  of  no  avail.  Afterwards,  she  addressed  a 
similar  memorial  to  “  His  Excellency  Sir  William 
Phips,  Knight,  Governor,  and  the  Honorable  Council 
sitting  at  Boston,”  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

‘•'•The  Humble  Petition  of  Rebecca  Fox ,  of  Cambridge ,  sliow- 
eth ,  that,  whereas  Rebecca  Jacobs  (daughter  of  your  hum¬ 
ble  petitioner)  has,  a  long  time,  —  even  many  months, — 
now  lain  in  prison  for  witchcraft,  and  is  well  known  to  be  a 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


189 


person  crazed,  distracted,  and  broken  in  mind,  your  humble 
petitioner  does  most  humbly  and  earnestly  seek  unto  Your 
Excellency  and  to  Your  Ilouors  for  relief  in  this  case. 

“  Your  petitioner,  —  who  knows  well  the  condition  of  her 
poor  daughter,  —  together  with  several  others  of  good  re¬ 
pute  and  credit,  are  ready  to  offer  their  oaths,  that  the  said 
Jacobs  is  a  woman  crazed,  distracted,  and  broken  in  her 
mind  ;  and  that  she  has  been  so  these  twelve  years  and 
upwards. 

“  However,  for  (I  think)  above  this  half-year,  the  said 
Jacobs  has  lain  in  prison,  and  yet  remains  there,  attended 
with  many  sore  difficulties. 

“  Christianity  and  nature  do  each  of  them  oblige  your 
petitioner  to  be  very  solicitous  in  this  matter  ;  and,  although 
many  weighty  cases  do  exercise  your  thoughts,  yet  your 
petitioner  can  have  no  rest  in  her  mind  till  such  time  as 
she  has  offered  this  her  address  on  behalf  of  her  daugh¬ 
ter. 

“  Some  have  died  already  in  prison,  and  othei’s  have  been 
dangerously  sick;  and  how  soon  others,  and,  among  them, 
my  poor  child,  by  the  difficulties  of  this  confinement  may  be 
sick  and  die,  God  only  knows. 

“  She  is  uncapable  of  making  that  shift  for  herself  that 
others  can  do  ;  and  such  are  her  circumstances,  on  other 
accounts,  that  your  petitioner,  who  is  her  tender  mother,  has 
many  great  sorrows,  and  almost  overcoming  burdens,  on  her 
mind  upon  her  account ;  but,  in  the  midst  of  all  her  perplexi¬ 
ties  and  troubles  (next  to  supplicating  to  a  good  and  mer¬ 
ciful  God),  your  petitioner  has  no  way  for  help  but  to  make 
this  her  afflicted  condition  known  unto  you.  So,  not  doubting 
but  Your  Excellency  and  Your  Honors  will  readily  hear  the 
cries  and  groans  of  a  poor  distressed  woman,  and  grant  what 


190 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


help  and  enlargement  you  may,  your  petitioner  heartily  begs 
God’s  gracious  presence  with  you  ;  and  subscribes  herself,  in 
all  humble  manner,  your  sorrowful  and  distressed  peti¬ 
tioner,  Rebecca  Fox.” 

No  heed  was  paid  to  this  petition  ;  and  the  unfortu¬ 
nate  woman  remained  in  jail  until — after  the  delu¬ 
sion  had  passed  from  the  minds  of  the  people  —  a 
grand  jury  found  a  bill  against  her,  on  which  she 
was  brought  to  trial,  Jan.  8,  1693,  and  acquitted. 
There  is  no  more  disgraceful  feature  in  all  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  than  the  long  imprisonment  of  this  woman, 
her  being  brought  to  trial,  and  the  obdurate  deafness 
to  humanity  and  reason  of  the  chief-justice,  the  gov¬ 
ernor,  and  the  council. 

No  papers  are  found  relating  to  the  examination  of 
Thomas  Farrar  ;  but  the  following  deposition  shows  the 
manner  in  which  prosecutions  were  got  up :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Ann  Putnam,  who  testifieth  and 
saith,  that,  on  the  8th  of  May,  1692,  there  appeared  to  me 
the  apparition  of  an  old,  gray-headed  man,  with  a  great 
nose,  which  tortured  me,  and  almost  choked  me,  and  urged 
me  to  write  in  his  book  ;  and  I  asked  him  what  was  his 
name,  and  from  whence  he  came,  for  I  would  complain  of 
him  ;  and  he  told  me  he  came  from  Lynn,  and  people  do  call 
him  ‘old  Father  Pharaoh;’  and  he  said  he  was  my  grand¬ 
father,  for  my  father  used  to  call  him  father :  but  I  told  him 
I  would  not  call  him  grandfather;  for  he  was  a  wizard, 
and  I  would  complain  of  him.  And,  ever  since,  he  hath 
afflicted  me  by  times,  beating  me  and  pinching  me  and 
almost  choking  me,  and  urging  me  continually  to  write  in  his 
book.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


191 


“  We,  whose  Dames  are  underwritten,  having  been  con¬ 
versant  with  Ann  Putnam,  have  heard  her  declare  what  is 
above  written,  —  what  she  said  she  saw  and  heard  from  the 
apparition  of  old  Pharaoh,  —  and  also  have  seen  her  tor¬ 
tures,  and  perceived  her  hellish  temptations,  by  her  loud  out¬ 
cries,  ‘  I  will  not  write,  old  Pharaoh,  —  I  will  not  write  in 
your  book.’  Thomas  Putnam, 

Robert  Morrell.” 

She  had  heard  this  person  spoken  of  as  “  old  Father 
Pharaoli,”  with  his  “  great  nose  ;  ”  and,  from  a  mere 
spirit  of  mischief,  —  for  the  fun  of  the  thing,  —  cried 
out  upon  him.  Many  of  the  documents  exhibit  a  levity 
of  spirit  among  these  girls,  which  show  how  hardened 
and  reckless  they  had  become.  The  following  deposi¬ 
tions  are  illustrative  of  this  state  of  mind  among 
them :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Clement  Coldum,  aged  sixty 
years,  or  thereabout.  —  Saith  that,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1692, 
being  at  Salem  Village,  carrying  home  Elizabeth  Hubbard 
from  the  meeting  behind  me,  she  desired  me  to  ride  faster. 
I  asked  her  why.  She  said  the  woods  were  full  of  devils, 
and  said,  ‘  There  !  ’  and  ‘  There  they  be  !  ’  but  I  could  see 
none.  Then  I  put  on  my  horse ;  and,  after  I  had  ridden 
a  while,  she  told  me  I  might  ride  softer,  for  we  had  outridden 
them.  I  asked  her  if  she  was  not  afraid  of  the  Devil.  She 
answered  me,  ‘  No  :  she  could  discourse  with  the  Devil  as  well 
as  with  me,’  and  further  saith  not.  This  I  am  ready  to  tes¬ 
tify  on  oath,  if  called  thereto,  as  witness  my  hand. 

“  Clement  Coldum.” 

“  The  Testimony  of  Daniel  Elliot,  aged  twenty-seven 
years  or  thereabouts,  who  testifieth  and  saith,  that  I,  being 


192 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


at  the  house  of  Lieutenant  Ingersoll,  on  the  28th  of  March, 
in  the  year  1G92,  there  being  present  one  of  the  afflicted  per¬ 
sons,  who  cried  out  and  said,  ‘  There’s  Goody  Procter.’  Wil¬ 
liam  Raymond,  Jr.,  being  there  present,  told  the  girl  he 
believed  she  lied,  for  he  saw  nothing.  Then  Goody  Inger¬ 
soll  told  the  girl  she  told  a  lie,  for  there  was  nothing.  Then 
the  girl  said  she  did  it  for  sport,  —  they  must  have  some 
sport.” 

Sarah  Buckley  was  examined  May  18,  and  her  daugh¬ 
ter  Mary  Whittredge  probably  on  the  same  day.  We 
have  Parris’s  report  of  the  proceedings  in  reference  to 
the  former.  The  only  witnesses  against  her  were  tlie 
afflicted  children.  They  performed  their  grand  opera¬ 
tion  of  going  into  fits,  and  being  carried  to  the  accused 
and  subjected  to  her  touch ;  Ann  Putnam,  Susanna 
Sheldon,  and  Mary  Warren  enacting  the  part  in  suc¬ 
cession.  Sheldon  cried  out,  “  There  is  the  black  man 
whispering  in  her  ear !  ”  The  magistrates  and  all 
beholders  were  convinced.  She  was  committed  to 
prison,  and  remained  in  irons  for  eight  months  before 
a  trial,  which  resulted  in  her  acquittal.  So  eminently 
excellent  was  the  character  of  Goodwife  Buckley,  that 
her  arrest  and  imprisonment  led  to  expressions  in  her 
favor  as  honorable  to  those  who  had  the  courage  to 
utter  them  as  to  her.  The  following  certificates  were 
given,  previous  to  her  trial,  by  ministers  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  :  — 

“  These  are  to  certify  whom  it  may  or  shall  concern,  that 
I  have  known  Sarah,  the  wife  of  William  Buckley,  of  Salem 
Village,  more  or  less,  ever  since  she  was  brought  out  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


193 


England,  which  is  above  fifty  years  ago;  and,  during  all  that 
time,  I  never  knew  nor  heard  of  any  evil  in  her  carriage,  or 
conversation  unbecoming  a  Christian :  likewise,  she  was 
bred  up  by  Christian  parents  all  the  time  she  lived  here  at 
Ipswich.  I  further  testify,  that  the  said  Sarah  was  admitted 
as  a  member  into  the  church  of  Ipswich  above  forty  years 
since  ;  and  that  I  never  heard  from  others,  or  observed  by 
myself,  any  thing  of  her  that  was  inconsistent  with  her  pro¬ 
fession  or  unsuitable  to  Christianity,  either  in  word,  deed, 
or  conversation,  and  am  strangely  surprised  that  any  person 
should  speak  or  think  of  her  as  one  worthy  to  be  suspected 
of  any  such  crime  that  she  is  now  charged  with.  In  testi¬ 
mony  hereof  I  have  here  set  my  hand  this  20th  of  June, 
1692.  William  Hubbard.” 

“  Being  desired  by  Goodman  Buckley  to  give  my  testi¬ 
mony  to  his  wife’s  conversation  before  this  great  calamity 
befell  her,  I  caunot  refuse  to  bear  witness  to  the  truth  ;  viz., 
that,  during  the  time  of  her  living  in  Salem  for  many  years 
in  communion  with  this  church,  having  occasionally  fre¬ 
quent  converse  and  discourse  with  her,  I  have  never  observed 
myself,  nor  heard  from  any  other,  any  thing  that  was  un¬ 
suitable  to  a  conversation  becoming  the  gospel,  and  have 
always  looked  upon  her  as  a  serious,  Godly  woman. 

“  John  IIigginson.” 

“Marblehead,  Jan.  2,  169|-.  —  Upon  the  same  request, 
having  had  the  like  opportunity  by  her  residence  many  years 
at  Marblehead,  I  can  do  no  less  than  give  the  alike  testimony 
for  her  pious  conversation  during  her  abode  in  this  place 
and  communion  with  us.  Samuel  Cheever.” 

William  Hubbard  was  the  venerable  minister  of  Ips¬ 
wich,  described  by  Hutchinson  as  “  a  man  of  learning, 

13 


VOL.  II. 


194 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


and  of  a  candid  and  benevolent  mind,  accompanied 
with  a  good  degree  of  Catholicism.”  He  is  described 
by  another  writer  as  “  a  man  of  singular  modesty, 
learned  without  ostentation.”  lie  will  be  remem¬ 
bered  with  honor  for  his  long  and  devoted  service  in 
the  Christian  ministry,  and  as  the  historian  of  New 
England  and  of  the  Indian  wars. 

John  Higginson  was  worthy  of  the  title  of  the 
“  Nestor  of  the  New-England  clergy.”  He  was  at  this 
time  seventy-six  years  old,  and  had  been  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel  fifty-five  years.  For  thirty-three  years 
he  had  been  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem,  of 
which  his  father  was  the  first  preacher.  No  character, 
in  all  our  annals,  shines  with  a  purer  lustre.  John 
Dunton  visited  him  in  1686,  and  thus  speaks  of  him: 
“  All  men  look  to  him  as  a  common  father ;  and  old 
age,  for  his  sake,  is  a  reverend  thing.  He  is  eminent 
for  all  the  graces  that  adorn  a  minister.  His  very 
presence  puts  vice  out  of  countenance  ;  his  conversa¬ 
tion  is  a  glimpse  of  heaven.”  The  fact,  that,  while  his 
colleague,  Nicholas  Noyes,  took  so  active  and  disas¬ 
trous  a  part  in  the  prosecutions,  he,  at  an  early  stage, 
discountenanced  them,  shows  that  he  was  a  person  of 
discrimination  and  integrity.  That  he  did  not  conceal 
his  disapprobation  of  the  proceedings  is  demonstrated, 
not  only  by  the  tenor  of  his  attestation  in  behalf  of 
Goodwife  Buckley,  but  by  the  decisive  circumstance 
that  the  “  afflicted  children  ”  cried  out  against  his 
daughter  Anna,  the  wife  of  Captain  William  Dolliver, 
of  Gloucester ;  got  a  warrant  to  apprehend  her ;  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


195 


had  her  brought  to  the  Salem  jail,  and  committed  as  a 
witch.  They  never  struck  at  friends,  but  were  sure  to 
punish  all  who  were  suspected  to  disapprove  of  the 
proceedings.  How  long  Mrs.  Dolliver  remained  in 
prison  we  are  not  informed.  But  it  was  impossible  to 
break  down  the  influence  or  independence  of  Mr. 
Higginson.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  believed  in 
witchcraft,  with  all  the  other  divines  of  his  day ;  but 
he  feared  not  to  bear  testimony  to  personal  worth,  and 
could  not  be  brought  to  co-operate  in  violence,  or  fall 
in  with  the  spirit  of  persecution.  The  weight  of  his 
character  compelled  the  deference  of  the  most  heated 
zealots,  and  even  Cotton  Mather  himself  was  eager  to 
pay  him  homage.  Four  years  afterwards,  he  thus 
writes  of  him  :  “  This  good  old  man  is  yet  alive  ;  and 
he  that,  from  a  child,  knew  the  Holy  Scriptures,  does, 
at  those  years  wherein  men  use  to  be  twice  children, 
continue  preaching  them  with  such  a  manly,  pertinent, 
and  judicious  vigor,  and  with  so  little  decay  of  his 
intellectual  abilities,  as  is  indeed  a  matter  of  just 
admiration.” 

Samuel  Cheever  was  a  clergyman  of  the  highest 
standing,  and  held  in  universal  esteem  through  a  long 
life. 

From  passages  incidentally  given,  it  has  appeared 
that  it  was  quite  common,  in  those  times,  to  attribute 
accidents,  injuries,  pains,  and  diseases  of  all  kinds,  to 
an  “  evil  hand.”  It  was  not  confined  to  this  locality. 
When,  however,  the  public  mind  had  become  excited 
to  so  extraordinary  a  degree  by  circumstances  con- 


196 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


nected  with  the  prosecutions  in  1692,  this  tendency  of 
the  popular  credulity  was  very  much  strengthened. 
Believing  that  the  sufferer  or  patient  was  the  victim  of 
the  malignity  of  Satan,  and  it  also  being  a  doctrine 
of  the  established  belief  that  hg  could  not  act  upon 
human  beings  or  affairs  except  through  the  instru¬ 
mental  agency  of  some  other  human  beings  in  con¬ 
federacy  with  him,  the  question  naturally  arose,  in 
every  specific  instance,  Who  is  the  person  in  this  dia¬ 
bolical  league,  and  doing  the  will  of  the  Devil  in  this 
case  ?  Who  is  the  witch  ?  It  may  well  be  supposed, 
that  the  suffering  person,  and  all  surrounding  friends, 
would  be  most  earnest  and  anxious  in  pressing  this 
question  and  seeking  its  solution.  The  accusing  girls 
at  the  village  were  thought  to  possess  the  power  to 
answer  it.  This  gave  them  great  importance,  grati¬ 
fied  their  vanity  and  pride,  and  exalted  them  to  the 
character  of  prophetesses.  They  were  ready  to  meet 
the  calls  made  upon  them  in  this  capacity  ;  would  be 
carried  to  the  room  of  a  sick  person ;  and,  on  entering 
it,  would  exclaim,  on  the  first  return  of  pain,  or  diffi¬ 
culty  of  respiration,  or  restless  motion  of  the  patient, 
“  There  she  is  !  ”  There  is  such  a  one’s  appearance, 
choking  or  otherwise  tormenting  him  or  her.  If  the 
minds  of  the  accusing  girls  had  been  led  towards 
a  new  victim,  his  or  her  name  would  be  used,  and  a 
warrant  issued  for  his  apprehension.  If  not,  then  the 
name  of  some  one  already  in  confinement  would  be 
used  on  the  occasion.  It  was  also  a  received  opinion, 
that,  while  ordinary  fastenings  would  not  prevent  a 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


197 


witch  from  going  abroad,  “  in  her  apparition,”  to  any 
distance  to  afflict  persons,  a  redoubling  of  them  might. 
Whenever  one  of  the  accusing  girls  pretended  to  see 
the  spectres  of  persons  already  in  jail  afflicting  any 
one,  orders  would  forthwith  be  given  to  have  them 
more  heavily  chained.  Every  once  in  a  while,  a 
wretched  prisoner,  already  suffering  from  bonds  and 
handcuffs,  would  be  subjected  to  additional  manacles 
and  chains.  This  was  one  of  the  most  cruel  features 
in  these  proceedings.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  follow¬ 
ing  document :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Benjamin  Hutchinson,  who  testi- 
fielli  and  saith,  that  my  wife  was  much  afflicted,  presently 
after  the  last  execution,  with  violent  pains  in  her  head  and 
teeth,  and  all  parts  of  her  body ;  but,  on  sabbath  day  was 
fortnight  in  the  morning,  she  being  in  such  excessive  misery 
that  she  said  she  believed  that  she  had  an  evil  hand  upon 
her  :  whereupon  I  went  to  Mary  Walcot,  one  of  our  next 
neighbors,  to  come  and  look  to  see  if  she  could  see  anybody 
upon  her  ;  and,  as  soon  as  she  came  into  the  house,  she  said 
that  our  two  next  neighbors,  Sarah  Buckley  and  Mary  Wliit- 
tredge,  were  upon  my  wife.  And  immediately  my  wife  had 
ease,  and  Mary  Walcot  was  tormented.  Whereupon  I 
went  down  to  the  sheriff,  and  desired  him  to  take  some 
course  with  those  women,  that  they  might  not  have  such 
power  to  torment  :  and  presently  he  ordered  them  to  be 
fettered,  and,  ever  since  that,  my  wife  has  been  tolerable 
well ;  and  I  believe,  in  my  heart,  that  Sarah  Buckley  and 
Mary  Whittredge  have  hurt  my  wife  and  several  others  by 
acts  of  witchcraft. 

“  Benjamin  Hutchinson  owned  the  above-written  evi- 


198 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


dence  to  be  the  truth,  upon  oath,  before  the  grand  inquest, 
15-7,  1692.” 

The  evidence  is  quite  conclusive,  from  considera¬ 
tions  suggested  by  the  foregoing  document,  and  indi¬ 
cations  scattered  through  the  papers  generally,  that 
all  persons  committed  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft 
were  kept  heavily  ironed,  and  otherwise  strongly  fas¬ 
tened.  Only  a  few  of  the  bills  of  expenses  incurred 
are  preserved.  Among  them  we  find  the  following : 
For  mending  and  putting  on  Rachel  Clenton’s  fet¬ 
ters  ;  one  pair  of  fetters  for  John  Howard  ;  a  pair  of 
fetters  each  for  John  Jackson,  Sr.,  and  John  Jackson, 
J r. ;  eighteen  pounds  of  iron  for  fetters ;  for  making 
four  pair  of  iron  fetters  and  two  pair  of  handcuffs, 
and  putting  them  on  the  legs  and  hands  of  Goodwife 
Cloyse,  Easty,  Bromidg,  and  Green ;  chains  for  Sarah 
Good  and  Sarah  Osburn ;  shackles  for  ten  prisoners ; 
and  one  pair  of  irons  for  Mary  Cox.  When  we  re¬ 
flect  upon  the  character  of  the  prisoners  generally,  — 
many  of  them  delicate  and  infirm,  several  venerable 
for  their  virtues  as'  well  as  years,  —  and  that  they 
were  kept  in  this  cruelly  painful  condition  from  early 
spring  to  the  middle  of  the  next  January,  and  the 
larger  part  to  the  May  of  1693,  in  the  extremes  of  heat 
and  cold,  exposed  to  the  most  distressing  severities  of 
both,  crowded  in  narrow,  dark,  and  noisome  jails  un¬ 
der  an  accumulation  of  all  their  discomforts,  restraints, 
privations,  exposures,  and  abominations,  our  wonder 
is,  not  that  many  of  them  died,  but  that  all  did  not 
break  down  in  body  and  mind. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


199 


Sarah  Buckley  and  her  daughter  were  not  brought 
to  trial  until  after  the  power  of  the  prosecution  to 
pursue  to  the  death  had  ceased.  They  were  acquitted 
in  January,  1692.  Their  goods  and  chattels  had  all 
been  seized  by  the  officers,  as  was  the  usual  prac¬ 
tice,  at  the  time  of  their  arrest.  In  humble  circum¬ 
stances  before,  it  took  their  last  shilling  to  meet  the 
charges  of  their  imprisonment.  They,  as  all  others, 
were  required  to  provide  their  own  maintenance 
while  in  prison ;  and,  after  trial  and  acquittal,  were 
not  discharged  until  all  costs  were  paid.  Five  pounds 
had  to  be  raised,  to  satisfy  the  claims  of  the  officers  of 
the  court  and  of  the  jails,  for  each  of  them.  The  result 
was,  the  family  was  utterly  impoverished.  The  poor 
old  woman,  with  her  aged  husband,  suffered  much, 
there  is  reason  to  fear,  from  absolute  want  during  all 
the  rest  of  their  days.  Their  truly  Christian  virtues 
dignified  their  poverty,  and  secured  the  respect  and 
esteem  of  all  good  men.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Green  has 
this  entry  in  his  diary  :  “  Jan.  2, 1702.  —  Old  William 
Buckley  died  this  evening.  He  was  at  meeting  the 
last  sabbath,  and  died  with  the  cold,  I  fear,  for  want 
of  comforts  and  good  tending.  Lord  forgive  !  He  was 
about  eighty  years  old.  1  visited  him  and  prayed 
with  him  on  Monday,  and  also  the  evening  before  he 
died.  He  was  very  poor ;  but,  I  hope,  had  not  his 
portion  in  this  life.”  The  ejaculation,  “  Lord  for¬ 
give  !  ”  expresses  the  deep  sense  Mr.  Green  had,  of 
which  his  whole  ministry  gave  evidence,  of  the  inex¬ 
pressible  sufferings  and  wrongs  brought  upon  families 


200 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


by  the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  The  case  of  Sarah 
Buckley,  her  husband  and  family,  was  but  one  of 
many.  The  humble,  harmless,  innocent  people  who 
experienced  that  fearful  and  pitiless  persecution  had 
to  drink  of  as  hitter  a  cup  as  ever  was  permitted  by  an 
inscrutable  Providence  to  he  presented  to  human  lips. 
In  reference  to  them,  we  feel  as  an  assurance,  what 
good  Mr.  Green  humbly  hoped,  that  “  they  had  not 
their  portion  in  this  life.”  Those  who  went  firmly, 
patiently,  and  calmly  through  that  great  trial  without 
losing  love  or  faith,  are  crowned  with  glory  and  honor. 

The  examination  and  commitment  of  Mary  Easty, 
on  the  21st  of  April,  have  already  been  described.  For 
some  reason,  and  in  a  way  of  which  we  have  no  in¬ 
formation',  she  was  discharged  from  prison  on  the  18th 
of  May,  and  wholly  released.  This  seems  to  have 
been  very  distasteful  to  the  accusing  girls.  They 
were  determined  not  to  let  it  rest  so ;  and  put  into 
operation  their  utmost  energies  to  get  her  back  to  im¬ 
prisonment.  On  the  20th  of  May,  Mercy  Lewis,  being 
then  at  the  house  of  John  Putnam,  Jr.,  was  taken 
with  fits,  and  experienced  tortures  of  unprecedented 
severity.  The  particular  circumstances  on  this  occa¬ 
sion,  as  gathered  from  various  depositions,  illustrate 
very  strikingly  the  skilful  manner  in  which  the  girls 
managed  to  produce  the  desired  effect  upon  the  public 
mind. 

Samuel  Abbey,  a  neighbor,  whether  sent  for  or  not 
we  are  not  informed,  went  to  John  Putnam’s  house 
that  morning,  about  nine  o’clock.  He  found  Mercy  in 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


201 


a  terrible  condition,  crying  out  with  piteous  tones  of 
anguish,  “  Hear  Lord,  receive  my  soul.”  — “  Lord,  let 
them  not  kill  me  quite.”  —  “  Pray  for  the  salvation  of 
my  soul,  for  they  will  kill  me  outright.”  He  was  de¬ 
sired  to  go  to  Thomas  Putnam’s  house  to  bring  bis 
daughter  Ann,  “  to  see  if  she  could  see  who  it  was  that 
hurt  Mercy  Lewis.”  He  found  Abigail  Williams  with 
Ann,  and  they  accompanied  him  back  to  John  Put¬ 
nam’s.  On  the  way,  they  both  cried  out  that  they 
saw  the  apparition  of  Goody  Easty  afflicting  Mercy 
Lewis.  When  they  reached  the  scene,  they  exclaimed, 
“  There  is  Goody  Easty  and  John  Willard  and  Mary 
Whittredge  afflicting  the  body  of  Mercy  Lewis ;  ”  Mercy 
at  the  time  laboring  for  breath,  and  appearing  as 
choked  and  strangled,  convulsed,  and  apparently  at 
the  last  gasp.  “  Thus,”  says  Abbey,  “  she  continued 
the  greatest  part  of  the  day,  in  such  tortures  as  no 
tongue  can  express.”  Mary  Walcot  was  sent  for. 
Upon  coming  in,  she  cried  out,  “There  is  the  appari¬ 
tion  of  Goody  Easty  choking  Mercy  Lewis,  pressing 
upon  her  breasts  with  both  her  hands,  and  putting  a 
chain  about  her  neck.”  A  message  was  then  de¬ 
spatched  for  Elizabeth  Hubbard.  She,  too,  saw  the 
shape  of  Goody  Easty,  “  the  very  same  woman  that 
was  sent  home  the  other  day,”  aided  in  her  diabolical 
operations  by  Willard  and  Whittredge,  “  torturing 
Mercy  in  a  most  dreadful  manner.”  Intelligence  of 
the  shocking  sufferings  of  Mercy  was  circulated  far 
and  wide,  and  people  hurried  to  the  spot  from  all 
directions.  Jonathan  Putnam,  James  Darling,  Benja- 


202 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


min  Hutchinson,  and  Samuel  Braybrook  reached  the 
house  during  the  evening,  and  found  Mercy  “  in  a  case 
as  if  death  would  have  quickly  followed.”  Occasion¬ 
ally,  Mercy  would  have  a  respite ;  and,  at  such  inter¬ 
vals,  Elizabeth  Hubbard  would  fill  the  gap.  “  These 
two  fell  into  fits  by  turns  ;  the  one  being  well  while 
the  other  was  ill.”  Each  of  them  continued,  all  the 
while,  crying  out  against  Goody  Easty,  uttering  in 
their  trances  vehement  remonstrances  against  her 
cruel  operations,  representing  her  as  bringing  their 
winding-sheets  and  coffins,  and  threatening  to  kill 
them  “  if  they  would  not  sign  to  her  book.”  Their 
acting  was  so  complete  that  the  bystanders  seem  to 
have  thought  that  they  heard  the  words  of  Easty,  as 
well  as  the  responses  of  the  girls  ;  and  that  they  saw 
the  “  winding-sheet,  coffin,”  and  “  the  book.”  In  the 
general  consternation,  Marshal  Herrick  was  sent  for. 
What  lie  saw,  heard,  thought,  and  did,  appears  from 
the  following  :  — 


“May  20,  1692.  —  The  Testimony  of  George  Her¬ 
rick,  aged  thirty-four  or  thereabouts,  and  John  Putnam, 
Jr.,  of  Salem  Village,  aged  thirty-five  years  or  there¬ 
abouts. —  Testifieth  and  saith,  that,  being  at  the  house  of 
the  above-said  John  Putnam,  both  saw  Mercy  Lewis  iu  a 
very  dreadful  and  solemn  condition,  so  that  to  our  appre¬ 
hension  she  could  not  continue  long  in  this  world  without  a 
mitigation  of  those  torments  we  saw  her  in,  which  caused 
us  to  expedite  a  hasty  despatch  to  apprehend  Mary  Easty, 
iu  hopes,  if  possible,  it  might  save  her  life;  and,  returning 
the  same  night  to  said  John  Putnam’s  house  about  midnight, 


.  #  .. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


203 


we  found  the  said  Mercy  Lewis  in  a  dreadful  fit,  but  her 
reason  was  then  returned.  Again  she  said,  ‘  What !  have 
you  brought  me  the  winding-sheet,  Goodwife  Easty  ?  Well, 
I  had  rather  go  into  the  winding-sheet  than  set  my  hand  to 
the  book  ;  ’  but,  after  that,  her  fits  were  weaker  and  weaker, 
but  still  complaining  that  she  was  very  sick  of  her  stomach. 
About  break  of  day,  she  fell  asleep,  but  still  continues  ex¬ 
tremely  sick,  and  was  taken  with  a  dreadful  fit  just  as  we 
left  her  ;  so  that  we  perceived  life  in  her,  and  that  was  all.” 

Edward  Putnam,  after  stating  that  the  grievous 
afflictions  and  tortures  of  Mercy  Lewis  were  charged, 
by  her  and  the  other  four  girls,  upon  Mary  Easty, 
deposes  as  follows  :  — 

“  I  myself,  being  there  present  with  several  others,  looked 
for  nothing  else  but  present  death  for  almost  the  space  of 
two  days  and  a  night.  She  was  choked  almost  to  death, 
insomuch  we  thought  sometimes  she  had  been  dead  ;  her 
mouth  and  teeth  shut ;  and  all  this  very  often  until  such 
time  as  we  understood  Mary  Easty  was  laid  in  irons.” 

Mercy’s  fits  did  not  cease  immediately  upon  Easty’s 
being  apprehended,  but  on  her  being  committed  to 
prison  and  chains  by  the  magistrate  in  Salem. 

An  examination  of  distances,  with  the  map  before 
us,  will  show  the  rapidity  with  which  business  was 
despatched  on  this  occasion.  Abbey  went  to  John 
Putnam,  Jr.’s  house  at  nine  o’clock  in  the  morning  of 
May  20.  He  was  sent  to  Thomas  Putnam’s  house  for 
Ann,  and  brought  her  and  Abigail  Williams  back  with 
him.  Mary  Walcot  was  sent  for  to  the  house  of  her 
father,  Captain  Jonathan  Walcot,  and  went  up  at  one 


204 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


o’clock,  “  about  an  hour  by  sun.”  Then  Elizabeth 
Hubbard,  who  lived  at  the  bouse  of  Dr.  Griggs,  “  was 
carried  up  to  Constable  John  Putnam’s  bouse:” 
Jonathan  Putnam,  Janies  Darling,  Benjamin  Hutchin¬ 
son,  and  Samuel  Bray  brook  got  there  in  the  evening,  as 
they  say,  “  between  eight  and  eleven  o’clock.”  In  the 
mean  time,  Marshal  Herrick  had  arrived.  Steps  were 
taken  to  get  out  a  warrant.  John  Putnam  and  Benja¬ 
min  Hutchinson  went  to  Salem  to  Hathorne  for  the 
purpose.  They  must  have  started  soon  after  eight. 
Hathorne  issued  the  warrant  forthwith.  It  is  dated 
May  20.  Herrick  went  with  it  to  the  house  of  Isaac 
Easty,  made  the  arrest,  sent  his  prisoner  to  the  jail 
in  Salem,  and  returned  himself  to  John  Putnam’s 
house  “  about  midnight ;  ”  staid  to  witness  the  appar¬ 
ently  mortal  sufferings  of  Mercy  until  “  about  break 
of  day ;  ”  returned  to  Salem  ;  had  the  examination  be¬ 
fore  Hathorne,  at  Thomas  Beadle’s :  the  whole  thing 
was  finished,  Mary  Easty  in  irons,  information  of  the 
result  carried  to  John  Putnam’s,  and  Mercy’s  agonies 
ceased  that  afternoon,  as  Edward  Putnam  testifies. 

I  have  given  this  particular  account  of  the  circum¬ 
stances  that  led  to  and  attended  Mary  Easty’s  second 
arrest,  because  the  papers  belonging  to  the  case  afford, 
in  some  respects,  a  better  insight  of  the  state  of  things 
than  others,  and  because  they  enable  us  to  realize  the 
power  which  the  accusing  girls  exercised.  The  con¬ 
tinuance  of  their  convulsions  and  spasms  for  such  a 
length  of  time,  the  large  number  of  persons  who  wit¬ 
nessed  and  watched  them  in  the  broad  daylight,  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


205 


the  perfect  success  of  their  operations,  show  how 
thoroughly  they  had  become  trained  in  their  arts.  I 
have  presented  the  occurrences  in  the  order  of  time, 
so  that,  by  estimating  the  distances  traversed  and  the 
period  within  which  they  took  place,  an  idea  can  be 
formed  of  the  vehement  earnestness  with  which  men 
acted  in  the  “  hurrying  distractions  of  amazing  afflic¬ 
tions  ”  and  overwhelming  terrors.  This  instance  also 
gives  us  a  view  of  the  horrible  state  of  things,  when 
any  one,  however  respectable  and  worthy,  was  liable, 
at  any  moment,  to  be  seized,  ^aligned,  and  destroyed. 

Mary  Easty  had  previously  experienced  the  malice 
of  the  persecutors.  For  two  months  she  had  suffered 
the  miseries  of  imprisonment,  had  just  been  released, 
and  for  two  days  enjoyed  the  restoration  of  liberty,  the 
comforts  of  her  home,  and  a  re-union  with  her  family. 
She  and  they,  no  doubt,  considered  themselves  safe 
from  any  further  outrage.  After  midnight,  she  was 
roused  from  sleep  by  the  unfeeling  marshal,  torn  from 
her  husband  and  children,  carried  back  to  prison, 
loaded  with  chains,  and  finally  consigned  to  a  dreadful 
and  most  cruel  death.  She  was  an  excellent  and 
pious  matron.  Her  husband,  referring  to  the  transac¬ 
tion  nearly  twenty  years  afterwards,  justly  expressed 
what  all  must  feel,  that  it  was  “  a  hellish  molesta¬ 
tion.” 

One  of  the  most  malignant  witnesses  against  Mary 
Easty  was  “  Goodwife  Bibber.”  She  obtruded  herself 
in  many  of  the  cases,  acting  as  a  sort  of  outside  mem¬ 
ber  of  the  “  accusing  circle,”  volunteering  her  aid  in 


206 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


carrying  on  the  persecutions.  It  was  an  outrage  for 
the  magistrates  or  judges  to  have  countenanced  such 
a  false  defamer.  There  are,  among  the  papers, 
documents  which  show  that  she  ought  to  have  been 
punished  as  a  calumniator,  rather  than  be  called  to 
utter,  under  oath,  lies  against  respectable  people.  The 
following  deposition  was  sworn  to  in  Court :  — 

“  The  Testimony  of  Joseph  Fowler,  who  testifieth  that 
Goodman  Bibber  and  his  wife  lived  at  my  house ;  and  I  did 
observe  and  take  notice  that  Goodwife  Bibber  was  a  woman 
who  was  very  idle  in  her  calling,  and  very  much  given  to 
tattling  and  tale-bearing,  making  mischief  amongst  her 
neighbors,  and  very  much  given  to  speak  bad  words,  and 
would  call  her  husband  bad  names,  and  was  a  woman  of  a 
very  turbulent,  unruly  spirit.” 

• 

Joseph  Fowler  lived  in  Wenliam,  and  was  a  person 
of  respectability  and  influence.  His  brother  Philip 
was  also  a  leading  man ;  was  employed  as  attorney 
by  the  Village  Parish  in  its  lawsuit  with  Mr.  Parris ; 
and  married  a  sister  of  Joseph  Herrick.  They  were 
the  grandsons  of  the  first  Philip,  who  was  an  early 
emigrant  from  Wales,  settling  in  Ipswich,  where  he 
had  large  landed  estates.  Henry  Fowler  and  his  two 
brothers,  now  of  Danvers,  are  the  descendants  of  this 
family :  one  of  them,  Augustus,  distinguished  as  a 
naturalist,  especially  in  the  department  of  ornithology  ; 
the  other,  Samuel  Page  Fowler,  as  an  explorer  of  our  * 
early  annals  and  local  antiquities.  In  1692,  one  of 
the  Fowlers  conducted  the  proceedings  in  Court 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


207 


against  the  head  and  front  of  the  witchcraft  prose¬ 
cution  ;  and  the  other  had  the  courage,  in  the  most 
fearful  hour  of  the  delusion,  to  give  open  testimony  in 
the  defence  of  its  victims.  It  is  an  interesting  circum¬ 
stance,  that  one  of  the  same  name  and  descent,  in  his 
reprint  of  the  papers  of  Calef  and  in  other  pub¬ 
lications,  has  done  as  much  as  any  other  person  of  our 
day  to  bring  that  whole  transaction  under  the  light  of 
truth  and  justice. 

John  Porter,  who  was  a  grandson  of  the  original 
John  Porter  and  the  original  William  Dodge  and  a 
man  of  property  and  family,  with  his  wife  Lydia ; 
Thomas  Jacobs  and  Mary  his  wife;  and  Richard  Wal¬ 
ker,  —  all  of  Wenham,  and  for  a  long  time  neighbors  of 
this  Bibber,  —  testify,  in  corroboration  of  the  statement 
of  Fowler,  that  she  was  a  woman  of  an  unruly,  tur¬ 
bulent  spirit,  double-tongued,  much  given  to  tattling 
and  tale-bearing,  making  mischief  amongst  her  neigh¬ 
bors,  very  much  given  to  speak  bad  words,  often 
speaking  against  one  and  another,  telling  lies  and 
uttering  malicious  wishes  against  people.  It  was 
abundantly  proved  that  she  had  long  been  known  to  be 
able  to  fall  into  fits  at  any  time.  One  witness  said 
“  she  would  often  fall  into  strange  fits  when  she  was 
crossed  of  her  humor  ;  ”  and  another,  “  that  she  could 
fall  into  fits  as  often  as  she  pleased.” 

On  the  21st  of  May,  warrants  were  issued  against 
the  wife  of  William  Basset,  of  Lynn ;  Susanna  Roots,  of 
Beverly  ;  and  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Procter  of  Salem 
Farms  ;  a  few  days  after,  against  Benjamin,  a  son  of 


208 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


said  John  Procter;  Mary  Dericli,  wife  of  Michael  Der¬ 
ich,  and  daughter  of  William  Basset  of  Lynn  ;  and  the 
wife  of  Robert  Pease  of  Salem.  Such  papers  as  relate 
to  these  persons  vary  in  no  particular  worthy  of  notice 
from  those  already  presented. 

‘  On  the  28th  of  May,  warrants  were  issued  against 
Martha  Carrier,  of  Andover;  Elizabeth  Fosdick,  of  Mal¬ 
den  ;  Wilmot  Read,  of  Marblehead ;  Sarah  Rice,  of 
Reading;  Elizabeth  How,  of  Topsfield ;  Captain  John 
Alden,  of  Boston  ;  William  Procter,  of  Salem  Farms  ; 

Captain  John  Flood,  of  Rumney  Marsh;  - Tooth- 

aker  and  her  daughter,  of  Billerica ;  and - Abbot, 

between  Topsfield  and  Wenliam  line.  On  the  30th, 
a  warrant  was  issued  against  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Ste¬ 
phen  Paine,  of  Charlestown ;  on  the  4th  of  June, 
against  Mary,  wife  of  Benjamin  Ireson,  of  Lynn.  Be¬ 
sides  these,  there  are  notices  of  complaints  made  and 
warrants  issued  against  a  great  number  of  people  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  :  Mary  Bradbury,  of  Salisbury  ; 
Lydia  and  Sarah  Dustin,  of  Reading;  Ann  Sears,  of 
Woburn;  Job  Tookey,  of  Beverly;  Abigail  Somes,  of 
Gloucester  ;  Elizabeth  Carey,  of  Charlestown  ;  Candy, 
a  negro  woman  ;  and  many  others.  Some  of  them  have 
points  of  interest,  demanding  particular  notice. 

The  case  of  Martha  Carrier  has  some  remarkable 
features.  It  has  been  shown,  by  passages  already 
adduced,  that  every  idle  rumor;  every  thing  that  the 
gossip  of  the  credulous  or  the  fertile  imaginations  of 
the  malignant  could  produce ;  every  thing,  gleaned  from 
the  memory  or  the  fancy,  that  could  have  an  unfavora- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


209 


blc  bearing  upon  an  accused  person,  however  foreign 
or  irrelevant  it  might  be  to  the  charge,  was  allowed  to 
be  brought  in  evidence  before  the  magistrates,  and  re¬ 
ceived  at  the  trials.  We  have  seen  that  a  child  under 
five  years  of  age  was  arrested,  and  put  into  prison. 
Children  were  not  only  permitted,  but  induced,  to 
become  witnesses  against  their  parents,  and  parents 
against  their  children.  Husbands  and  wives  were 
made  to  criminate  each  other  as  witnesses  in  court. 
When  Martha  Carrier  was  arrested,  four  of  her  chil¬ 
dren  were  also  taken  into  custody.  An  indictment 
against  one  of  them  is  among  the  papers.  Under  the 
terrors  brought  to  bear  upon  them,  they  were  prevailed 
on  to  be  confessors.  The  following  shows  how  these 
children  were  trained  to  tell  their  story  :  — 

“  It  was  asked  Sarah  Carrier  by  the  magistrates,  — 

“  How  long  hast  thou  been  a  witch  ?  —  Ever  since  I  was 
six  years  old. 

“  How  old  are  you  now  ?  —  Near  eight  years  old  :  bro¬ 
ther  Richard  says  I  shall  be  eight  years  old  in  November 
next. 

“  Who  made  you  a  witch  ?  —  My  mother  :  she  made  me 
set  my  hand  to  a  book. 

“  How  did  you  set  your  hand  to  it  ?  —  I  touched  it  with 
my  fingers,  and  the  book  was  red :  the  paper  of  it  was 
white. 

“  She  said  she  never  had  seen  the  black  man :  the  place 
where  she  did  it  was  in  Andrew  Foster’s  pasture,  and  Eliza¬ 
beth  Johnson,  Jr.,  was  there.  Being  asked  who  was  there 
besides,  she  answered,  her  aunt  Toothaker  and  her  cousin. 

14 


VOL.  II. 


210 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Being  asked  when  it  was,  she  said,  when  she  was  bap¬ 
tized. 

“  What  did  they  promise  to  give  you  ?  —  A  black  dog. 

“  Did  the  dog  ever  come  to  you  ?  —  No. 

“  But  you  said  you  saw  a  cat  once  :  what  did  that  say  to 
you  ?  —  It  said  it  would  tear  me  in  pieces,  if  I  would  not  set 
my  hand  to  the  book. 

“  She  said  her  mother  baptized  her,  and  the  Devil,  or 
black  man,  was  not  there,  as  she  saw  ;  and  her  mother 
said,  when  she  baptized  her,  ‘  Thou  art  mine  for  ever  and 
ever.  Amen.’ 

“  How  did  you  afflict  folks  ? —  I  pinched  them. 

“  And  she  said  she  had  no  puppets,  but  she  went  to  them 
that  she  afflicted.  Being  asked  whether  she  went  in  her 
body  or  her  spirit,  she  said  in  her  spirit.  She  said  her 
mother  carried  her  thither  to  afflict. 

“IIow  did  your  mother  carry  you  when  she  was  in 
prison  ?  —  She  came  like  a  black  cat. 

“  How  did  you  know  it  was  your  mother  ?  —  The  cat  told 
me  so,  that  she  was  my  mother.  She  said  she  afflicted 
Phelps’s  child  last  Saturday,  and  Elizabeth  Johnson  joined 
with  her  to  do  it.  She  had  a  wooden  spear,  about  as  long 
as  her  finger,  of  Elizabeth  Johnson  ;  and  she  had  it  of  the 
Devil.  She  would  not  own  that  she  had  ever  been  at  the 
Avitch-meeting  at  the  village.  This  is  the  substance. 

“  Simon  Willard.” 

The  confession  of  another  of  her  children  is  among 
the  papers.  It  runs  thus :  — 

“  Have  you  been  in  the  Devil’s  snare  ?  —  Yes. 

“  Is  your  brother  AndreAV  ensnared  by  the  Devil’s  snare  ? 
—  Yes. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


211 


“  How  long  has  your  brother  been  a  witch?  —  Near  a 
mouth. 

“  How  long  have  you  beeu  a  witch  ?  —  Not  long. 

“  Have  you  joined  in  afflicting  the  afflicted  persons  ?  — 
Yes. 

“  You  helped  to  hurt  Timothy  Swan,  did  you  ?  —  Yes. 

“How  long  have  you  been  a  witch?  —  About  five 
weeks. 

“  Who  was  in  company  when  you  covenanted  with  the 
Devil  ?  —  Mrs.  Bradbury. 

“  Did  she  help  you  afflict?  —  Yes. 

“  Who  was  at  the  village  meeting  when  you  were  there? 
—  Goodwife  How,  Goodwife  Nurse,  Goodwife  Wildes,  Proc¬ 
ter  aud  his  wife,  Mrs.  Bradbury,  and  Corey’s  wife. 

“  What  did  they  do  there  ?  —  Eat,  and  drank  wine. 

“Was  there  a  minister  there  ?  —  No,  not  as  I  know  of. 

“From  av hence  had  you  your  wine?  —  From  Salem,  I 
think,  it  was. 

“  Goodwife  Oliver  there  ?  —  Yes  :  I  knew  her.” 

In  concluding  his  report  of  the  trial  of  this  wretched 
woman,  whose  children  were  thus  made  to  become  the 
instruments  for  procuring  her  death,  Dr.  Cotton  Ma¬ 
ther  expresses  himself  in  the  following  language  :  — 

“  This  rampant  hag  (Martha  Carrier)  was  the  person  of 
whom  the  confessions  of  the  witches,  and  of  her  own  children 
among  the  rest,  agreed  that  the  Devil -had  promised  her  that 
she  should  be  queen  of  Hell.” 

It  is  quite  evident  that  this  “  rampant  hag  ”  had  no 
better  opinion  of  the  dignitaries  and  divines  who 
managed  matters  at  the  time  than  they  had  of  her. 


212 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  record  of  her  examination  shows  that  she  was  not 
afraid  to  speak  her  mind,  and  in  plain  terms  too. 
When  brought  before  the  magistrates,  the  following 
were  their  questions  and  her  answers.  The  accusing 
witnesses  having  severally  made  their  charges  against 
her,  declaring  that  she  had  tormented  them  in  various 
ways,  and  threatened  to  cut  their  throats  if  they  would 
not  sign  the  Devil’s  book,  which,  they  said,  she  had 
presented  to  them,  the  magistrates  addressed  her  in 
these  words :  “  What  do  you  say  to  this  you  are 
charged  with  ?  ”  She  answered,  “  I  have  not  done  it.” 
One  of  the  accusers  cried  out  that  she  was,  at  that 
moment,  sticking  pins  into  her.  Another  declared 
that  she  was  then  looking  upon  “  the  black  man,”  — 
the  shape  in  which  they  pretended  the  Devil  appeared. 
The  magistrate  asked  the  accused,  “  What  black  man  is 
that?  ”  Her  answer  was,  “  I  know  none.”  The  accusers 
cried  out  that  the  black  man  was  present,  and  visible 
to  them.  The  magistrate  asked  her,  “  What  black 
man  did  you  see  ?  ”  Her  answer  was,  “  I  saw  no  black 
man  but  your  own  presence.”  Whenever  she  looked 
upon  the  accusers,  they  were  knocked  down.  The 
magistrate,  entirely  deluded  by  their  practised  acting, 
said  to  her,  “  Can  you  look  upon  these,  and  not  knock 
them  down  ?  ”  Her  answer  was,  “  They  will  dissem¬ 
ble,  if  I  look  upon  them.”  He  continued :  “  You  see, 
you  look  upon  them,  and  they  fall  down.”  She  broke 
out,  “It  is  false :  the  Devil  is  a  liar.  I  looked  upon 
none  since  I  came  into  the  room  but  you.”  Susanna 
Sheldon  cried  out,  in  a  trance,  “  I  wonder  what  could 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


213 


you  murder  thirteen  persons  for.’’  At  this,  her  spirit 
became  aroused :  the  accusers  fell  into  the  most  in¬ 
tolerable  outcries  and  agonies.  The  accused  rebuked 
the  magistrate,  charging  him  with  unfairness  in  not 
paying  any  regard  to  what  she  said,  and  receiving 
every  thing  that  the  accusers  said.  “  It  is  a  shameful 
thing,  that  you  should  mind  these  folks  that  are  out  of 
their  wits  ;  ”  and,  turning  to  those  who  were  bringing 
these  false  and  ridiculous  charges  against  her,  she  said, 
“  You  lie  :  I  am  wronged.”  The  energy  and  courage 
of  the  prisoner  threw  the  accusers,  magistrates,  and 
the  whole  crowd  into  confusion  and  uproar.  The  rec¬ 
ord  closes  the  description  of  the  scene  in  these  words : 
“  The  tortures  of  the  afflicted  were  so  great  that  there 
was  no  enduring  of  it,  so  that  she  was  ordered  away, 
and  to  be  bound  hand  and  foot  with  all  expedition  ;  the 
afflicted,  in  the  mean  while,  almost  killed,  to  the  great 
trouble  of  all  spectators,  magistrates,  and  others.” 

Parris  closes  his  report  of  this  examination  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  — 

“  Note.  —  As  soon  as  she  was  well  bound,  they  all  had 
strange  and  sudden  ease.  Mary  Walcot  told  the  magis¬ 
trates  that  this  woman  told  her  she  had  been  a  witch  this 
forty  years.” 

This  shows  the  sort  of  communications  the  girls 
were  allowed  to  hold  with  the  magistrates,  exciting 
their  prejudices  against  accused  persons,  and  filling 
their  ears  with  all  sorts  of  exaggerated  and  false 
stories.  However  much  she  may  have  been  maligned 


214 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


by  her  neighbors,  some  of  whom  had  long  been  in  the 
habit  of  circulating  slanders  against  her,  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  papers  relating  to  her  shows  that  she 
always  indignantly  repelled  the  charge  of  being  a 
witch,  and  was  the  last  person  in  the  world  to  have 
volunteered  such  a  statement  as  Mary  Walcot  re¬ 
ported. 

The  examination  of  Martha  Carrier  must  have  been 
one  of  the  most  striking  scenes  of  the  whole  drama  of 
the  witchcraft  proceedings.  The  village  meeting-house 
presented  a  truly  wild  and  exciting  spectacle.  The 
fearful  and  horrible  superstition  which  darkened  the 
minds  of  the  people  was  displayed  in  tlieif  aspect  and 
movements.  Their  belief,  that,  then  and  there,  they 
were  witnessing  the  great  struggle  between  the  king¬ 
doms  of  God  and  of  the  Evil  One,  and  that  every  thing 
was  at  stake  on  the  issue,  gave  an  awe-struck  intensity 
to  their  expression.  The  blind,  unquestioning  confi¬ 
dence  of  the  magistrates,  clergy,  and  all  concerned  in 
the  prosecutions,  in  the  evidence  of  the  accusers  ;  the 
loud  outcries  of  their  pretended  sufferings  ;  their  con¬ 
tortions,  swoonings,  and  tumblings,  excited  the  usual 
consternation  in  the  assembly.  In  addition  to  this, 
there  was  the  more  than  ordinary  bold  and  defiant 
bearing  of  the  prisoner,  stung  to  desperation  by  the 
outrage  upon  human  nature  in  the  abuse  practised 
upon  her  poor  children ;  her  firm  and  unshrinking 
courage,  facing  the  tempest  that  was  raised  to  over¬ 
whelm  her,  sternly  rebuking  the  magistrates,  —  “It 
is  a  shameful  thing  that  you  should  mind  these  folks 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


215 


that  are  out  of  their  wits;”  —  her  whole  demeanor, 
proclaiming  her  conscious  innocence,  and  proving  that 
she  chose  chains,  the  dungeon,  and  the  scaffold,  rather 
than  to  belie  herself.  Seldom  has  a  scene  in  real  life, 
or  a  picture  wrought  by  the  inspiration  of  genius  and  the 
hand  of  art,  in  its  individual  characters  or  its  general 
grouping,  surpassed  that  presented  on  this  occasion. 

Hutchinson  has  preserved  the  record  of  another 
examination  of  a  different  character.  An  ignorant 
negro  slave-woman  wTas  brought  before  the  magis¬ 
trates.  She  was  cunning  enough,  not  only  to  confess, 
but  to  cover  herself  with  the  cloak  of  having  been  led 
into  the  difficulty  by  her  mistress. 

“Candy,  are  you  a  witch?  —  Candy  no  witch  in  her 
country.  Candy’s  mother  no  witch.  Candy  no  witch,  Bar¬ 
bados.  This  country,  mistress  give  Candy  witch. 

“  Did  your  mistress  make  you  a  witch  in  this  country?  — 
Yes  :  in  this  country,  mistress  give  Candy  witch. 

“  What  did  your  mistress  do  to  make  you  witch  ?  — 
Mistress  bring  book  and  pen  and  ink  ;  make  Candy  write 
in  it.” 

Upon  being  asked  what  she  wrote,  she  took  a  pen 
and  ink,  and  made  a  mark.  Upon  being  asked  how 
she  afflicted  people,  and  where  were  the  puppets  she 
did  it  with,  she  said,  that,  if  they  would  let  her  go  out 
for  a  moment,  she  would  show  them  how.  They  al¬ 
lowed  her  to  go  out,  and  she  presently  returned  with 
two  pieces  of  cloth  or  linen,  —  one  with  two  knots, 
the  other  with  one  tied  in  it.  Immediately  on  seeing 
these  articles,  the  “afflicted  children”  were  “greatly 


216 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


affrighted,”  and  fell  into  violent  fits.  When  they 
came  to,  they  declared  that  the  “  black  man,”  Mrs. 
Hawkes,  and  the  negro,  stood  by  the  puppets  of  rags, 
and  pinched  them.  Whereupon  they  fell  into  fits 
again.  “  A  bit  of  one  of  thS  rags  being  set  on  fire,” 
they  all  shrieked  that  they  were  burned,  and  “  cried 
out  dreadfully.”  Some  pieces  being  dipped  in  water, 
they  went  into  the  convulsions  and  struggles  of  drown¬ 
ing  persons  ;  and  one  of  them  rushed  out  of  the  room, 
and  raced  down  towards  the  river. 

Candy  and  the  girls  having  played  their  parts  so 
well,  there  was  no  escape  for  poor  Mrs.  Hawkes  but  in 
confession,  which  she  forthwith  made.  They  were 
both  committed  to  prison.  Fortunately,  it  was  not 
convenient  to  bring  them  to  trial  until  the  next  Janu¬ 
ary,  when,  the  delusion  having  blown  over,  they  were 
acquitted. 

Besides  those  already  mentioned,  there  were  others, 
among  the  victims  of  this  delusion,  whose  cases  excite 
our  tenderest  sensibility,  and  deepen  our  horror  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  scene.  It  seems,  that,  some  time 
before  the  transactions  took  place  in  Salem  Village,  a 
difficulty  arose  between  two  families  on  the  borders  of 
Topsfield  and  Ipswich,  such  as  often  occur  among 
neighbors,  about  some  small  matter  of  property, 
fences,  or  boundaries.  Their  names  were  Perley  and 
How.  A  daughter  of  Perley,  about  ten  years  of  age, 
hearing,  probably,  strong  expressions  by  her  parents, 
became  excited  against  the  Hows,  and  charged  the 
wife  of  How  with  bewitching  her.  She  acted  much 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


217 


after  the  manner  of  the  “  afflicted  girls  ”  in  Salem 
Village,  which  was  near  the  place  of  her  residence. 
Very  soon  the  idea  became  current  that  Mrs.  How 
was  a  witch ;  and  every  thing  that  happened  amiss  to 
any  one  was  laid  at  her  door.  She  was  cried  out 
against  by  the  “afflicted  children”  in  Salem  Village, 
and  carried  before  the  magistrates  for  examination  on 
the  31st  of  May,  1692.  Upon  being  brought  into  her 
presence,  the  accusers  fell  into  their  usual  fits  and 
convulsions,  and  charged  her  with  tormenting  them. 
To  the  question,  put  by  the  magistrates,  “  What  say 
you  to  this  charge  ?  ”  her  answer  was,  “  If  it  was  the 
last  moment  I  was  to  live,  God  knows  I  am  innocent 
of  any  thing  in  this  nature.”  The  papers  connected 
with  her  trial  bear  abundant  testimony  to  the  excel¬ 
lent  character  of  this  pious  and  amiable  woman.  A 
person,  who  had  lived  near  her  twenty-four  years, 
states,  in  her  deposition,  “  that  she  had  found  her  a 
neighborly  woman,  conscientious  in  her  dealing,  faith¬ 
ful  to  her  promises,  and  Christianlike  in  her  conversa¬ 
tion.”  Several  others  join  in  a  deposition  to  this 
effect :  “  For  our  own  parts,  we  have  been  well  ac¬ 
quainted  with  her  for  above  twenty  years.  We  never 
saw  but  that  she  carried  it  very  well,  and  that  both 
her  words  and  actions  were  always  such  as  well  be¬ 
came  a  good  Christian.” 

The  following  passages  illustrate  the  wicked  arts 
sometimes  used  to  bring  accusations  upon  innocent 
persons,  and  give  affecting  proof  of  the  excellence  of 
the  character  and  heart  of  Elizabeth  How  :  — 


218 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  The  Testimony  of  Samuel  Phillips,  aged  about  sixty- 
seven,  minister  of  the  word  of  God  in  Rowley,  who  saith  that 
Mr.  Payson  (minister  of  God’s  word  also  in  Rowley)  and 
myself  went,  being  desired,  to  Samuel  Perly,  of  Ipswich, 
to  see  their  young  daughter,  who  was  visited  with  strange 
fits  ;  and,  in  her  fits  (as  her  father  and  mother  affirmed), 
did  mention  Goodwife  How,  the  wife  of  James  How,  Jr., 
of  Ipswich,  as  if  she  was  in  the  house,  and  did  afflict  her. 
AVhen  we  were  in  the  house,  the  child  had  one  of  her  fits, 
but  made  no  mention  of  Goodwife  How  ;  and,  when  the 
fit  was  over,  and  she  came  to  herself,  Goodwife  How  went 
to  the  child,  and  took  her  by  the  hand,  and  asked  her 
whether  she  had  ever  done  her  any  hurt ;  and  she  answered, 
‘  No,  never ;  and,  if  I  did  complain  of  you  in  my  fits,  I 
knew  not  that  I  did  so.’  I  further  can  affirm,  upon  oath, 
that  young  Samuel  Perley,  brother  to  the  afflicted  girl, 
looked  out  of  a  chamber  window  (I  and  the  afflicted  child 
being  without  doors  together),  and  said  to  his  sister,  ‘  Say 
Goodwife  How  is  a  witch,  —  say  she  is  a  witch  ;  ’  and  the 
child  spake  not  a  word  that  way.  But  I  looked  up  to 
the  window  where  the  youth  stood,  and  rebuked  him  for  his 
boldness  to  stir  up  his  sister  to  accuse  the  said  Goodwife 
How ;  whereas  she  had  cleared  her  from  doing  any  hurt  to 
his  sister  in  both  our  hearing;  and  I  added,  ‘  No  wonder 
that  the  child,  in  her  fits,  did  mention  Goodwife  How,  when 
her  nearest  relations  were  so  frequent  in  expressing  their 
suspicions,  in  the  child’s  hearing,  when  she  was  out  of  her 
fits,  that  the  said  Goodwife  How  was  an  instrument  of  mis¬ 
chief  to  the  child.’  ” 

Mr.  Payson,  in  reference  to  the  same  occasion,  de¬ 
posed  as  follows :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


219 


“  Being  in  Pel-ley’s  house  some  considerable  time  before 
the  said  Goodwife  How  came  in,  their  afflicted  daughter, 
upon  something  that  her  mother  spake  to  her  with  tartness, 
presently  fell  into  one  of  her  usual  strange  fits,  during  which 
she  made  no  mention  (as  I  observed)  of  the  abovesaid  How 
her  name,  or  any  thing  relating  to  her.  Some  time  after,  the 
said  IIoav  came  in,  when  said  girl  had  recovered  her  capa¬ 
city,  her  fit  being  over.  Said  How  took  said  girl  by  the 
hand,  and  asked  her  whether  she  had  ever  done  her  any 
hurt.  The  child  answered,  ‘  No  ;  never,’  with  several  ex¬ 
pressions  to  that  purpose.” 

The  bearing  of  Elizabeth  How,  under  accusations 
so  cruelly  and  shamefully  fabricated  and  circulated 
against  her,  exhibits  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pic¬ 
tures  of  a  truly  forgiving  spirit  and  of  Christlike 
love  anywhere  to  be  found.  Several  witnesses  say, 
“  We  often  spoke  to  her  of  some  things  that  were 
reported  of  her,  that  gave  some  suspicion  of  that  she 
is  now  charged  with  ;  and  she,  always  professing  her 
innocency,  often  desired  our  prayers  to  God  for  her, 
that  God  would  keep  her  in  his  fear,  and  support 
her  under  her  burden.  We  have  often  heard  her 
speaking  of  those  persons  that  raised  those  reports  of 
her,  and  we  never  heard  her  speak  badly  of  them  for 
the  same ;  but,  in  our  hearing,  hath  often  said  that 
she  desired  God  that  he  would  sanctify  that  affliction, 
as  well  as  others,  for  her  spiritual  good.”  Others  tes¬ 
tified  to  the  same  effect.  Simon  Chapman,  and  Mary, 
his  wife,  say  that  “  they  had  been  acquainted  with  the 
wife  of  James  How,  Jr.,  as  a  neighbor,  for  this  nine  or 


220 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ten  years  ;  ”  that  they  had  resided  in  the  same  house 
with  her  “  by  the  fortnight  together  ;  ”  that  they  never 
knew  any  thing  but  what  was  good  in  her.  They 
“  found,  at  all  times,  by  her  discourse,  she  was  a 
woman  of  affliction,  and  mourning  for  sin  in  herself 
and  others ;  and,  when  she  met  with  any  affliction,  she 
seemed  to  justify  God  and  say  that  it  was  all  better 
than  she  deserved,  though  it  was  by  false  accusations 
from  men.  She  used  to  bless  God  that  she  got  good 
by  affliction ;  for  it  made  her  examine  her  own  heart. 
We  never  heard  her  revile  any  person  that  hath  ac¬ 
cused  her  with  witchcraft,  but  pitied  them,  and  said, 
4 1  pray  God  forgive  them  ;  for  they  harm  themselves 
more  than  me.  Though  I  am  a  great  sinner,  I  am 

clear  of  that ;  and  such  kind  of  affliction  doth  but 

set  me  to  examining  my  own  heart,  and  I  find  God 
wonderfully  supporting  me  and  comforting  me  by  his 
word  and  promises.’  ” 

Joseph  Knowlton  and  his  wife  Mary,  who  had  lived 
near  her,  and  sometimes  in  the  same  family  with  her, 
testified,  that,  having  heard  the  stories  told  about 
her,  they  were  led  to  — 

“  take  special  notice  of  her  life  and  conversation  ever  since. 
And  I  have  asked  her  if  she  could  freely  forgive  them  that 

raised  such  reports  of  her.  She  told  me  yes,  with  all  her 

heart,  desiring  that  God  would  give  her  a  heart  to  be  more 
humble  under  such  a  providence ;  and,  further,  she  said  she 
was  willing  to  do  any  good  she  could  to  those  who  had  done 
unneighborly  by  her.  Also  this  I  have  taken  notice,  that  she 
would  deny  herself  to  do  a  neighbor  a  good  turn.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


221 


Tiic  father  of  her  husband,  —  James  How,  Sr.,  aged 
about  ninety-four  years, —  in  a  communication  ad¬ 
dressed  to  the  Court,  declared  that  — 

“  lie,  living  by  her  for  about  thiity  years,  hath  taken  notice 
that  she  hath  carried  it  well  becoming  her  place,  as  a  daugh¬ 
ter,  as  a  wife,  in  all  relations,  setting  aside  human  infirmi¬ 
ties,  as  becometh  a  Christian;  with  respect  to  myself  as  a 
father,  very  dutifully  ;  and  as  a  wife  to  my  son,  very  careful, 
lovi'ng,  obedient,  and  kind,  —  considering  his  want  of  eye¬ 
sight,  tenderly  leading  him  about  by  the  hand.  Desiring 
God  may  guide  your  honors,  ...  I  rest  yours  to  serve.” 

The  only  evidence  against  this  good  woman  —  be 
yond  the  outcries  and  fits  of  the  “  afflicted  children,” 
enacted  in  their  usual  skilful  and  artful  style  —  con¬ 
sisted  of  the  most  wretched  gossip  ever  circulated  in 
an  ignorant  and  benighted  community.  It  came  from 
people  in  the  back  settlements  of  Ipswich  and  Tops- 
field,  and  disclosed  a  depth  of  absurd  and  brutal  super¬ 
stition,  which  it  is  difficult  to  believe  ever  existed  in 
New  England.  So  far  as  those  living  in  secluded 
and  remote  localities  are  regarded,  this  wTas  the  most 
benighted  period  of  our  history.  Except  where,  as 
in  Salem  Village,  special  circumstances  had  kept  up 
the  general  intelligence,  there  was  much  darkness 
on  the  popular  mind.  The  education  that  came  over 
with  the  first  emigrants  from  the  mother-country  had 
gone  with  them  to  their  graves.  The  system  of  com¬ 
mon  schools  had  not  begun  to  produce  its  fruit  in 
the  thinly  peopled  outer  settlements.  There  is  no 
more  disgraceful  page  in  our  annals  than  that  which 


900 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


details  the  testimony  given  at  the  trial,  and  records  the 
conviction  and  execution,  of  Elizabeth  How. 

But  the  dark  shadows  of  that  day  of  folly,  cruelty, 
and  crime,  served  to  bring  into  a  brighter  and  purer 
light  virtues  exhibited  by  many  persons.  We  meet 
affecting  instances,  all  along,  of  family  fidelity  and 
true  Christian  benevolence.  James  How,  as  lias  been 
stated,  was  stricken  with  blindness.  He  had  two 
daughters,  Mary  and  Abigail.  Although  their  farm 
was  out  of  the  line  of  the  public-roads,  travel  very  diffi¬ 
cult,  and  they  must  have  encountered  many  hardships, 
annoyances,  and,  it  is  to  be  feared,  sometimes  unfeeling 
treatment  by  the  way,  one  of  them  accompanied  their 
father,  twice  every  week,  to  visit  their  mother  in  her 
prison-walls.  They  came  on  horseback ;  she  man¬ 
aging  the  bridle,  and  guiding  him  by  the  hand  after 
alighting.  Their  humble  means  were  exhausted  in 
these  offices  of  reverence  and  affection.  One  of  the 
noble  girls  made  her  way  to  Boston,  sought  out  the 
Governor,  and  implored  a  reprieve  for  her  mother ; 
but  in  vain.  The  sight  of  these  young  women,  leading 
their  blind  father  to  comfort  and  provide  for  their 
“honored  mother,  —  as  innocent,”  as  they  declared 
her  to  be,  “  of  the  crime  charged,  as  any  person  in  the 
world,”  —  so  faithful  and  constant  in  their  filial  love 
and  duty,  relieved  the  horrors  of  the  scene ;  and  it 
ought  to  be  held  in  perpetual  remembrance.  The 
shame  of  that  day  is  not,  and  will  not  be,  forgotten  ; 
neither  should  its  beauty  and  glory. 

The  name  of  Elizabeth  How,  before  marriage,  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


223 


Jackson.  Among  the  accounts  rendered  against  the 
country  for  expenses  incurred  in  the  witchcraft  prose¬ 
cutions  are  these  two  items  :  “  For  John  Jackson,  Sr., 
one  pair  of  fetters,  five  shillings;  for  John  Jackson, 
Jr.,  one  pair  of  fetters,  five  shillings.”  There  is  also 
an  item  for  carrying  “  the  two  Jacksons  ”  from  one 
jail  to  another,  and  back  again.  No  other  reference  to 
them  is  found  among  the  papers.  They  were,  per¬ 
haps,  a  brother  and  nephew  of  Elizabeth  How.  There 
is  reason  to  suppose  that  her  husband,  James  How, 
Jr.,  was  a  nephew  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Dane,  of  An¬ 
dover. 

The  examination  of  Job  Tookey,  of  Beverly,  presents 
some  points  worthy  of  notice.  He  is  described  as 
a  “  laborer,”  but  was  evidently  a  person,  although  per¬ 
haps  inconsiderate  of  speech,  of  more  than  common 
discrimination,  and  not  wholly  deluded  by  the  fanati¬ 
cism  of  the  times.  He  is  charged  with  having  said 
that  he  “  would  take  Mr.  Burroughs’s  part ;  ”  “  that 
he  was  not  the  Devil’s  servant,  but  the  Devil  was  his.” 
When  the  girls  testified  that  they  saw  his  shape  afflict¬ 
ing  persons,  he  answered,  like  a  sensible  man,  if  they 
really  saw  any  such  thing,  “  it  was  not  he,  but  the 
Devil  in  his  shape,  that  hurts  the  people.”  Susanna 
Sheldon,  Mary  Warren,  and  Ann  Putnam,  all  de¬ 
clared,  that,  at  that  very  moment  while  the  examina¬ 
tion  was  going  on,  two  men  and  two  women  and  one 
child  “  rose  from  the  dead,  and  cried,  4  Vengeance  ! 
vengeance  !  ’  ”  Nobody  else  saw  or  heard  any  thing  : 
but  the  girls  suddenly  became  dumb  ;  their  eyes  wrere 


* 


224 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


fixed  on  vacancy,  all  looking  towards  the  same  spot ; 
and  their  whole  appearance  gave  assurance  of  the 
truth  of  what  they  said.  In  a  short  time,  Mary  War¬ 
ren  recovered  the  use  of  her  vocal  organs,  and  ex¬ 
claimed,  “  There  are  three  men,  and  three  women,  and 
two  children.  They  are  all  in  their  winding-sheets : 
they  look  pale  upon  us,  but  red  upon  Tookey,  —  red  as 
blood.”  Again,  she  exclaimed,  in  a  startled  and 
affrighted  manner,  “  There  is  a  young  child  under  the 
table,  crying  out  for  vengeance.”  Elizabeth  Booth, 
pointing  to  the  same  place,  was  struck  speechless. 
In  this  way,  the  murder  of  about  every  one  who  had 
died  at  Royal  Side,  for  a  year  or  two  past,  was  put 
upon  Tookey.  Some  of  them  were  called  by  name ; 
the  others,  the  girls  pretended  not  to  recognize.  The 
wrath  and  horror  of  the  whole  community  were  ex¬ 
cited  against  him,  and  he  was  committed  to  jail,  by  the 
order  of  the  magistrates,  —  Bartholomew  Gedney, 
Jonathan  Corwin,  and  John  Hathorne. 

No  character,  indeed,  however  blameless  lovely  or 
venerable,  was  safe.  The  malignant  accusers  struck 
at  the  highest  marks,  and  the  consuming  fire  of  popu¬ 
lar  frenzy  was  kindled  and  attracted  towards  the  most 
commanding  objects.  Mary  Bradbury  is  described,  in 
the  indictment  against  her,  as  the  “  wife  of  Captain 
Thomas  Bradbury,  of  Salisbury,  in  the  county  of  Es¬ 
sex,  gentleman.”  A  few  of  the  documents  that  are 
preserved,  belonging  to  her  case,  will  give  some  idea 
what  sort  of  a  person  she  was :  — 


i 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


225 


“  The  Answer  of  Mary  Bradbury  to  the  Charge  of  Witch¬ 
craft,  or  Familiarity  with  the  Devil. 

“  I  do  plead  ‘  Not  guilty.’  I  am  wholly  innocent  of  any 
such  wickedness,  through  the  goodness  of  God  that  have  kept 
me  hitherto.  I  am  the  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  have 
given  myself  up  to  him  as  my  only  Lord  and  Saviour,  and  to 
the  diligent  attendance  upon  him  in  all  his  holy  ordinances,  in 
utter  contempt  and  defiance  of  the  Devil  and  all  his  works,  as 
horrid  and  detestable,  and,  accordingly,  have  endeavored  to 
frame  my  life  and  conversation  according  to  the  rules  of  his 
holy  word ;  and,  in  that  faith  and  practice,  resolve,  by  the 
help  and  assistance  of  God,  to  continue  to  my  life’s  end. 

“  For  the  truth  of  what  I  say,  as  to  matter  of  practice,  I 
humbly  refer  myself  to  my  brethren  and  neighbors  that  know 
me,  and  unto  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts,  for  the  truth  and 
uprightness  of  my  heart  therein  (human  frailties  and  un¬ 
avoidable  infirmities  excepted,  of  which  I  bitterly  complain 
every  day).  Mart  Bradbury.” 

“July  28,  1692.  —  Concerning  my  beloved  wife,  Mary 
Bradbury,  this  is  what  I  have  to  say  :  We  have  been  married 
fifty-five  years,  and  she  hath  been  a  loving  and  faithful  wife 
to  me.  Unto  this  day,  she  hath  been  wonderful  laborious, 
diligent,  and  industrious,  in  her  place  and  employment,  about 
the  bringing-up  of  our  family  (which  have  been  eleven  chil¬ 
dren  of  our  own,  and  four  grandchildren).  She  was  both 
prudent  and  provident,  of  a  cheerful  spirit,  liberal  and  char¬ 
itable.  She  being  now  very  aged  and  weak,  and  grieved 
under  her  affliction,  may  not  be  able  to  speak  much  for  her¬ 
self,  not  being  so  free  of  speech  as  some  others  may  be. 
I  hope  her  life  and  conversation  have  been  such  amongst  her 

von.  II.  15 


4 


226 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


neighbors  as  gives  a  better  and  more  real  testimony  of  her 
than  can  be  expressed  by  words. 

“  Owned  by  me,  Tuo.  Bradbury.” 

The  Rev.  James  Allin  made  oatli  before  Robert  Pike, 
an  assistant  and  magistrate,  as  follows :  — 

“  I,  having  lived  nine  years  at  Salisbury  in  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  and  now  four  years  in  the  office  of  a  pastor,  to 
my  best  notice  and  observation  of  Mrs.  Bradbury,  she  bath 
lived  according  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel  amongst  us  ;  was  a 
constant  atteuder  upon  the  ministry  of  the  word,  and  all  the 
ordinances  of  the  gospel ;  full  of  works  of  charity  and  mercy 
to  the  sick  and  poor  :  neither  have  I  seen  or  heard  any  thing 
of  her  unbecoming  the  profession  of  the  gospel.” 

Robert  Pike  also  affirmed  to  the  truth  of  Mr.  Allin’s 
statement,  from  “  upwards  of  fifty  years’  experience,” 
as  did  John  Pike  also :  they  both  declared  themselves 
ready  and  desirous  to  give  their  testimony  before  the 
Court. 

One  hundred  and  seventeen  of  her  neighbors  —  the 
larger  part  of  them  heads  of  families,  and  embracing 
the  most  respectable  people  of  that  vicinity  —  signed 
their  names  to  a  paper,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
copy :  — 

“  Concerning  Mrs.  Bradbury’s  life  and  convei-sation,  we, 
the  subscribers,  do  testify,  that  it  was  such  as  became  the 
gospel :  she  was  a  lover  of  the  ministry,  in  all  appearance, 
and  a  diligent  attender  upon  God’s  holy  ordinances,  being  of 

a  courteous  and  peaceable  disposition  and  carriage.  Neither 

* 

did  any  of  us  (some  of  whom  have  lived  in  the  town  with  her 


WITCHCBAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


227 


above  fifty  years)  ever  hear  or  ever  know  that  she  ever  had 
any  difference  or  falling-out  with  any  of  her  neighbors,  — 
man,  woman,  or  child,  —  but  was  always  ready  and  willing 
to  do  for  them  what  lay  in  her  power  night  and  day,  though 
with  hazard  of  her  health,  or  other  danger.  More  might  be 
spoken  in  her  commendation,  but  this  for  the  present.” 

Although  this  aged  matron  and  excellent  Christian 
lady  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death,  it  is  most 
satisfactory  to  find  that  she  escaped  from  prison,  and 
her  life  was  saved. 

The  following  facts  show  the  weight  which  ought  to 
have  been  attached  to  these  statements.  The  position, 
as  well  as  character  and  age,  of  Mary  [Perkins]  Brad¬ 
bury  entitled  her  to  the  highest  consideration,  in  the 
structure  of  society  at  that  time.  This  is  recognized 
in  the  title  “  Mrs.,”  uniformly  given  her.  She  had 
been  noted,  through  life,  for  business  capacity,  energy, 
and  influence  ;  and,  in  1692,  was  probably  seventy-five 
years  of  age,  and  somewhat  infirm  in  health.  Her 
husband,  Thomas  Bradbury,  had  been  a  prominent 
character  in  the  colony  for  more  than  fifty  years.  In 
1641,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  General  Court,  Clerk  of 
the  Writs  for  Salisbury,  with  the  functions  of  a  magis¬ 
trate,  to  execute  all  sorts  of  legal  processes  in  that 
place.  He  was  a  deputy  in  1651  and  many  subse¬ 
quent  years ;  a  commissioner  for  Salisbury  in  1657, 
empowered  to  act  in  all  criminal  cases,  and  bind  over 
offenders,  where  it  was  proper,  to  higher  courts,  to 
take  testimonies  upon  oath,  and  to  join  persons  in 
marriage.  He  was  required  to  keep  a  record  of  all  his 


228 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


doings.  If  the  parties  agreed  to  that  effect,  he  was 
authorized  to  hear  and  determine  cases  .of  every  kind 
and  degree,  without  the  intervention  of  a  jury.  The 
towns  north  of  the  Merrimac,  and  all  beyond  now 
within  the  limits  of  New  Hampshire,  constituted  the 
County  of  Norfolk ;  and  Thomas  Bradbury,  for  a  long 
series  of  years,  was  one  of  its  commissioners  and  as¬ 
sociate  judges.  From  the  first,  he  was  conspicuous 
in  military  matters  ;  having  been  commissioned  by  the 
General  Court,  in  1648,  Ensign  of  the  trainband  in 
Salisbury.  He  rose  to  its  command  ;  and,  in  the  latter 
portion  of  his  life,  was  universally  spoken  of  as  “  Cap¬ 
tain  Bradbury.”  All  along,  the  records  of  the  General 
Court,  for  half  a  century,  demonstrate  the  estimation 
in  which  he  was  held ;  various  important  trusts 
and  special  services  requiring  integrity  and  ability 
being  from  time  to  time  committed  to  him.  His 
family  was  influentially  connected.  His  son  William 
married  the  widow  of  Samuel  Maverick,  Jr.,  who  was 
the  son  of  one  of  the  King’s  Commissioners  in  1664 : 
she  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Wheelwright, 
a  man  of  great  note,  intimately  related  to  the  cele¬ 
brated  Anne  Hutchinson,  and  united  with  her  by 
sympathy  in  sentiment  and  participation  in  exile. 

Robert  Pike,  born  in  1616,  was  a  magistrate  in  1644. 
He  was  deputy  from  Salisbury  in  1648,  and  many 
times  after ;  Associate  Justice  for  Norfolk  in  1650  ; 
and  Assistant  in  1682,  holding  that  high  station,  by 
annual  elections,  to  the  close  of  the  first  charter,  and 
during  the  whole  period  of  the  intervening  and  insur- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


229 


gent  government.  lie  was  named  as  one  of  the 
council  that  succeeded  to  the  House  of  Assistants, 
when,  under  the  new  charter,  Massachusetts  became 
a  royal  province.  lie  was  always  at  the  head  of 
military  affairs,  having  been  commissioned,  by  the 
General  Court,  Lieutenant  of  the  Salisbury  trainband 
in  1648  ;  and,  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  he  held  the 
rank  and  title  of  major.  John  Pike,  probably  his  son, 
resided  in  Hampton  in  1691,  and  was  minister  of 
Dover  at  his  death  in  1710. 

Surely,  the  attestations  of  such  men  as  the  Pikes, 
father  and  son,  and  the  Rev.  James  Allin,  to  the 
Christian  excellence  of  Mary  Bradbury,  must  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  corroborate  fully  the  declarations  of  her 
neighbors,  her  husband,  and  herself. 

The  motives  and  influences  that  led  to  her  arrest  and 
condemnation  in  1692  demand  an  explanation.  The 
question  arises,  Why  should  the  attention  of  the  accu¬ 
sing  girls  have  been  led  to  this  aged  and  most  re¬ 
spectable  woman,  living  at  such  a  distance,  beyond  the 
Merrimac  ?  A  critical  scrutiny  of  the  papers  in 
the  case  affords  a  clew  leading  to  the  true  answer. 

The  wife  of  Sergeant  Thomas  Putnam,  as  has  been 
stated  (vol.  i.  p.  253),  was  Ann  Carr  of  Salisbury. 
Her  father,  George  Carr,  was  an  early  settler  in  that 
place,  and  appears  to  have  been  an  enterprising  and 
prosperous  person.  The  ferry  for  the  main  travel  of 
the  country  across  the  Merrimac  was  from  points 
of  land  owned  by  him,  and  always  under  his  charge. 
He  was  engaged  in  ship-building,  —  employing,  and 


230 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


having  in  his  family,  young  men  ;  among  them  a  son  of 
Zerubabel  Enclicott,  bearing  the  same  name. 

Among  the  papers  in  the  case  is  the  follow¬ 
ing  :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Richard  Carr,  who  testifieth  and 
saith,  that,  about  thirteen  years  ago,  presently  after  some 
difference  that  happened  to  be  between  my  honored  father, 
Mr.  George  Carr,  and  Mrs.  Bradbury,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar, 
upon  a  sabbath  at  noon,  as  we  were  riding  home,  by  the 
house  of  Captain  Tho :  Bradbury,  I  saw  Mrs.  Bradbury  go 
into  her  gate,  turn  the  corner  of,  and  immediately  there 
darted  out  of  her  gate  a  blue  boar,  and  darted  at  my  father’s 
horse’s  legs,  which  made  him  stumble  ;  but  I  saw  it  no  more. 
And  my  father  said,  ‘Boys,  what  do  you  see?’  We  both 
answered,  ‘  A  blue  boar.’ 

“  Zerubabel  Endicott  testifieth  and  saith,  that  I  lived  at 
Mr.  George  Carr,  now  deceased,  at  the  time  above  mentioned, 
and  was  present  with  Mr.  George  Carr  and  Mr.  Richard 
Carr.  And  I  also  saw  a  blue  boar  dart  out  of  Mr.  Brad¬ 
bury’s  gate  to  Mr.  George  Carr’s  horse’s  legs,  which  made 
him  stumble  after  a  strange  manner.  And  I  also  saw  the 
blue  boar  dart  from  Mr.  Carr’s  horse’s  legs  in  at  Mrs.  Brad¬ 
bury’s  window.  And  Mr.  Carr  immediately  said,  ‘  Boys, 
what  did  you  see  ?  ’  And  we  both  said,  ‘  A  blue  boar.’  Then 
said  he,  ‘  From  whence  came  it  ?  ’  And  we  said,  ‘  Out  of 
Mr.  Bradbury’s  gate.’  Then  said  he,  ‘  I  am  glad  you  see  it 
as  Avell  as  I.’  Jurat  in  Curia ,  Sept.  9,  ’92.” 

Stephen  Sewall,  the  clerk  of  the  courts,  with  his 
usual  eagerness  to  make  the  most  of  the  testimony 
against  persons  accused,  adds  to  the  deposition  the 
following :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


231 


“  And  they  both  further  say,  on  their  oaths,  that  Mr. 
Carr  discoursed  with  them,  as  they  went  home,  about  what 
had  happened,  and  they  all  concluded  that  it  was  Mrs. 
Bradbury  that  so  appeared  as  a  blue  boar.” 

At  the  date  of  this  occurrence,  Richard  Carr  was 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  Zerubabel  Endicott  a  lad  of 
of  fifteen. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  there  was  “  some 
difference  between”  George  Carr  and  Mrs.  Bradbury, 
if  he  was  in  the  habit  of  indulging  in  such  talk  about 
her  as  he  took  the  leading  part  in  on  this  occasion. 
He  evidently  encouraged  in  his  “boys”  the  absurd 
imaginations  with  which  their  credulity  had  been 
stimulated.  They  were  prepared  by  preconceived  no¬ 
tions  to  witness  something  preternatural  about  the 
premises  of  Mrs.  Bradbury ;  and,  in  their  jaundiced 
vision,  any  animal,  moving  in  and  out  of  the  gate, 
might  naturally  assume  the  likeness  of  a  “  blue  boar.” 
Such  ideas  circulating  in  the  family,  and  among  the 
apprentices  of  Carr,  would  soon  be  widely  spread. 
No  doubt,  Zerubabel,  on  his  visits  to  his  home,  told 
wondrous  stories  about  Mrs.  Bradbury.  His  brother 
Samuel,  then  a  youth  of  eighteen,  had  his  imagination 
filled  with  them ;  and  some  time  after,  on  a  voyage  to 
“  Barbadoes  and  Saltitudos,”  in  which  severe  storms 
and  various  disasters  were  experienced,  attributed  them 
all  to  Mrs.  Bradbury ;  and,  “  in  a  bright  moonshining 
night,  sitting  upon  the  windlass,  to  which  ho  had  been 
sent  forward  to  look  out  for  land,”  the  wild  fancies  of 
his  excited  imagination  took  effect.  He  heard  “  a 


9QO 

-jOji J 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


rumbling  noise,”  and  thought  he  saw  the  legs  of  some 
person.  “  Presently  he  was  shook,  and  looked  over 
his  shoulder,  and  saw  the  appearance  of  a  woman, 
from  her  middle  upwards,  having  a  white  cap  and 
white  neckcloth  on  her,  which  then  affrighted  him  very 
much  ;  and,  as  he  was  turning  of  the  windlass,  he  saw 
the  aforesaid  two  legs.”  Such  superstitious  phantasms 
seem  to  be  natural  to  the  experiences  of  sailor-life, 
and  perhaps  still  linger  in  the  forecastle  and  at  the 
night-watch. 

The  habit  of  maligning  Mrs.  Bradbury  as  a  witch 
dated  back  in  the  Carr  family  more  than  thirteen  years, 
as  the  following  deposition  proves.  I  give  it  precisely 
as  it  is  in  the  original.  As  in  a  few  other  instances  in 
this  work,  the  spelling  and  punctuation  are  preserved 
as  curiosities.  Like  all  the  papers  in  the  case,  with 
one  exception,  presented  in  court  against  Mrs.  Brad¬ 
bury,  it  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Sergeant  Thomas 
Putnam :  — 

“  The  DErosisnoN  of  James  Cakr.  who  testifieth  and 
saith  that  about  20  years  agoe  one  day  as  I  was  accidently 
att  the  house  of  mr  wheleright  and  his  daughter  the  widdow 
maverick  then  liued  there  :  and  she  then  did  most  curtuously 
invite  me  to  com  oftener  to  the  house  and  wondered  I  was 
grown  such  a  stranger,  and  with  in  a  few  days  affter  one 
evening  I  went  thether  againe  :  and  when  I  came  thether 
againe :  william  Bradbery  was  yr  who  was  then  a  suter  to 
the  said  widdow  but  I  did  not  know  it  tell  affterwards  : 
affter  I  came  in  the  widdow  did  so  corsely  treat  the  sd 
william  Bradbery  that  he  went  away  semeing  to  be  augury : 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


233 


presently  affter  this  I  was  taken  affter  a  strange  maner  as  if 
liueiug  creaturs  did  run  about  euery  part  of  my  body  redy 
to  tare  me  to  peaces  and  so  I  continewed  for  about  3  qurters 
of  a  year  by  times  &  I  applyed  myself  to  doctor  Crosbe  who 
gave  me  a  "rate  deal  of  visek  but  could  make  non  work  tho 
he  steept  tobacco  in  bosit  drink  he  could  make  non  to  work 
where  upon  he  tould  me  that  he  beleved  I  tvas  behaged : 
and  I  tould  him  I  had  thought  so  a  good  while  :  and  he 
asked  me  by  bom  I  tould  him  I  did  not  care  for  spaking  for 
one  was  counted  an  honest  woman :  but  he  uging  I  tould 
him  and  he  said  he  did  beleve  that  mis  Bradbery  was  a  grat 
deal  worss  then  goody  martin  :  then  presently  affter  this  one 
night  I  being  a  bed  &  brod  awake  there  came  sumtliing  to 
me  which  I  thought  was  a  catt  and  went  to  strick  it  ofe  the 
bed  and  was  sezed  fast  that  I  could  not  stir  hedd  nor  foot, 
but  by  and  coming  to  my  strenth  I  herd  sumtliing  a  coming  to 
me  againe  and  I  prepared  my  self  to  strick  it :  and  it  coming 
upon  the  bed  I  did  strick  at  it  and  I  beleve  I  hit  it  :  and 
after  that  visek  would  work  on  me  and  I  beleve  in  my  hart 
that  m's  Bradbery  the  prisoner  att  the  barr  has  often  afllec- 
ted  me  by  acts  of  wicthcraft. 

“  Jurat  in  Curia  Sep™  9.  92.  ”  * 

*  In  the  innumerable  depositions  written  by  Thomas  Putnam,  he  is 
not  so  careful  to  be  correct,  in  his  chirography  and  construction,  as  in 
his  parish-records.  But,  if  the  reader  is  inclined  to  make  the  experi¬ 
ment,  he  will  find,  that,  if  the  above  document  should  be  properly 
pointed  and  spelled,  according  to  our  fashion  at  the  present  day,  it 
would  read  well,  and  is  clearly  and  forcibly  put  together.  Spelling,  at 
that  time,  was  phonetic,  and  it  enables  us  to  ascertain  the  then  preva¬ 
lent  pronunciation  of  words.  “  Corsely,”  no  doubt,  shows  how  the 
word  was  then  spoken.  “  Augury  ”  was,  with  a  large  class  of  words 
now  dissyllables,  then  a  trisyllable.  “  Tould,”  “  spaking,”  and  many 
other  words  above,  are  spelled  just  as  they  were  then  pronounced. 


234 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


But  the  whole  of  George  Carr’s  family  did  not  sym¬ 
pathize  in  this  morbid  state  of  prejudice,  or  cherish 
such  foolish  and  malignant  fancies,  against  Mrs.  Brad¬ 
bury.  One  of  the  sons,  William,  had  married,  Aug. 
20,  1672,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  Pike.  It  ap¬ 
pears,  by  the  following  deposition,  which  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  Major  Pike,  that  there  had  been  an¬ 
other  love  affair  between  the  families,  leading  to  a 
melancholy  result,  inflaming  still  more  the  morbid  and 
malign  prejudice  against  Mrs.  Bradbury ;  but  William 
repudiated  it  utterly :  — 

“The  Testimony  of  William  Carr,  aged  forty-one,  or 
thereabouts,  is  that  my  brother  John  Carr,  when  he  was 
young,  was  a  man  of  as  good  capacity  as  most  men  of  his 
age  ;  but  falling  in  love  with  Jane  True  (now  wife  of  Captain 

“  Wictheraft  ”  is  always,  I  believe,  spelled  this  way  by  Thomas  Put¬ 
nam.  He  had  not  got  rid  of  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  sound  of  the  word 
“  witch,”  brought  by  his  father  from  Buckinghamshire,  sixty  years 
before,  —  “  wicca.” 

The  condition  of  medical  science  and  practice,  at  that  period,  is  curi¬ 
ously  illustrated  in  this  paper.  It  is  plain  that  the  distemper  of  James 
Carr  was  purely  in  the  realm  of  the  sensibilities  and  fancy ;  and  “doctor 
Crosbe  ”  is  not  wholly  to  blame  because  his  “  visek  ”  did  not  “  work.” 
A  good  smart  nightmare,  with  a  feeling  that  he  had  given  a  thorough 
basting  to  the  spectre,  in  the  form  of  a  cat,  of  the  supposed  author  of 
his  woful  and  aggravated  disappointment  in  love,  was  what  he  needed  ; 
and  it  cured  him.  “A  posset  of  sack”  was  Fal  staff’s  refuge,  from  the 
plight  into  which  he  had  been  led  by  “  building  upon  a  foolish  woman’s 
promise,”  when  he  emerged  from  the  Thames  and  the  “  buck-basket.” 
Many  others,  no  doubt,  in  drowning  sorrow  and  mortification,  have 
found  it  “the  sovereignest  thing  on  earth.”  But,  as  administered  by 
physicians  of  the  Dr.  Crosby  school,  with  tobacco  steeped  in  it,  it  must 
have  been  a  “  villanous  compound.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


285 


John  March),  anti  my  father  being  persuaded  by  [  ]  of 

the  family  (which  I  shall  not  name)  not  to  let  him  marry 
so  young,  my  father  would  not  give  him  a  portion,  where¬ 
upon  the  match  broke  off,  which  my  brother  laid  so  much  to 
heart  that  he  grew  melancholy,  and  by  degrees  much  crazed, 
not  being  the  man,  that  he  was  before,  to  his  dying  day. 

“  I  do  further  testify  that  my  said  brother  was  sick  about 
a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  and  then  died  ;  and  I  was  present 
with  him  when  he  died.  And  I  do  affirm  that  he  died  peace¬ 
ably  and  quietly,  never  manifesting  the  least  trouble  in  the 
world  about  anybody,  nor  did  not  say  any  thing  of  Mrs. 
Bradbury  nor  anybody  else  doing  him  hurt ;  and  yet  I  was 
with  him  till  the  breath  and  life  were  out  of  his  body.” 

The  usual  form,  jurat  in  curia ,  is  written  at  the  foot 
of  this  deposition,  but  evidently  by  a  much  later  hand  ; 
and  this  leads  me  to  mention  the  improbability  that 
any  testimony  in  favor  of  the  accused  ever  reached 
the  Court  at  the  trials.  They  had  no  counsel :  the 
attorney-general  had  prejudged  all  the  cases  ;  and  his 
mind  and  those  of  the  judges  repudiated  utterly  any 
thing  like  an  investigation.  Every  friendly  voice  was 
silenced.  The  doors  were  closed  against  the  defence. 
Robert  Pike,  an  assistant  under  the  old  and  a  council¬ 
lor  under  the  new  government,  endeavored  in  vain  to 
enter  them. 

William  Carr  was  a  person  of  great  respectability, 
and  bore  the  appointment,  by  the  General  Court,  of 
land-surveyor  for  the  towns  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  present  county  of  Essex. 

The  member  of  the  family  who  —  as  stated  in  the 


236  WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 

foregoing  deposition  —  prevented  the  match,  all  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  seem  to  indicate,  was  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam. 
She  perhaps  had  experienced  the  effects  of  a  too  early 
marriage,  bringing  the  burden  of  life  upon  the  consti¬ 
tution  and  the  character  before  they  are  mature  enough 
to  bear  it.  She  may  have  attributed  to  this  cause 
the  troubles  and  trials  with  which  her  cup  had  been  so 
bitterly  filled,  and  the  blasting  of  the  happiness  of  her 
youth.  Half  deranged,  as  perpetual  excitement  from 
the  parish  quarrels  in  reference  to  Mr.  Bayley  had  made 
her,  she  may  have  become  morbidly  opposed  to  the 
equally  early  marriage  of  a  brother.  Added  to  this  was 
the  fact  that  Plenry  True  had  married  one  of  Mrs.  Brad¬ 
bury’s  daughters,  and  that  Jane  True  was  his  sister. 
It  cam;ot  be  doubted  that  she  entertained  the  same 
ideas  about  Mrs.  Bradbury  as  her  father  and  brothers, 
James  and  Bicliard  ;  and,  for  this  reason,  also  opposed 
the  match  of  her  brother  John.  Wishing  to  be  relieved 
from  the  self-reproach  of  having  caused  his  derange¬ 
ment  and  death,  when  the  witchcraft  delusion  broke 
out  at  Salem  Village  and  she  became  wholly  absorbed 
by  it,  as  all  other  deaths  and  misfortunes  were  as¬ 
cribed  to  it,  she  avowed  and  maintained  the  belief, 
as  some  had  suspected  at  the  time,  that  the  happi¬ 
ness,  health,  reason,  and  life  of  her  brother  had  been 
destroyed  by  diabolical  agency,  practised  by  Mrs.  Brad¬ 
bury. 

In  the  state  of  things  long  subsisting  between  the 
Bradbury  and  Carr  families,  we  find  an  explanation  of 
the  movement  made  against  Mrs.  Bradbury.  Young 


_ •  *  ± 


i 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Ann  Putnam  may  have  often  heard  her  unpleasantly 
spoken  of  by  her  mother,  and  it  was  natural  that  she 
should  have  “  cried  out  against  her.” 

The  family  of  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  seem  to  have  had 
constitutional  traits  that  illustrate  and  explain  her  own 
character  and  conduct.  They  were  excitable  and  sen¬ 
sitive  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  Their  judgment, 
reason,  and  physical  systems,  were  subject  to  the  power 
of  their  fancies  and  affections.  One  of  her  brothers, 
in  consequence  of  being  badly  coquetted  with  and  jilted 
by  a  young  widow,  was  thrown  into  an  awful  condition 
of  body  and  mind  “  for  about  three-quarters  of  a 
year.”  The  reason,  health,  and  heart  of  another  were 
broken  ;  and  he  sunk  into  ail  early  grave,  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  having  been  crossed  in  love.  The  death  of 
her  sister  Bayley  may  have  been  caused  by  the  unhappy 
controversies  in  the  village  parish.  We  have  seen, 
and  shall  see,  the  all  but  maniac  condition  to  which 
excitement  brought  her  own  mind.  At  last,  the 
heaviest  blow  that  can  fall  upon  a  fond  wife  suddenly 
snapped  the  brittle  cord  of  her  life.  These  considera¬ 
tions  must  be  borne  in  mind,  while  we  attempt  to 
explain  her  conduct,  and  should  throw  the  weight  of 
pity  and  charity  into  the  scales,  if  mortal  judgment 
ventures  to  estimate  her  guilt.  They  are  known  to 
the  Infinite  Mind,  and  never  overlooked  by  divine 
mercy. 

I  have  introduced  these  singular  private  details  to 
illustrate  what  the  documents  all  along  show,  —  that 
the  proceedings  against  persons  charged  with  witch- 


238 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


craft,  in  1692,  were  instigated  by  all  sorts  of  personal 
grudges  and  private  piques,  many  of  them  of  long 
standing,  fomented  and  kept  alive  by  an  unhappy  in¬ 
dulgence  of  unworthy  feelings,  always  ready  to  mix 
themselves  with  popular  excitements,  and  leading  all 
concerned  headlong  to  the  utmost  extent  of  mischief 
and  wrong. 

The  case  of  Mary  Bradbury  has  been  allowed  to 
occupy  so  large  a  space,  because  I  desire  to  disabuse 
the  public  mind  of  a  great  error  on  this  subject.  It 
has  been  too  much  supposed,  that  the  sufferers  in  the 
witchcraft  delusion  were  generally  of  the  inferior 
classes  of  society,  and  particularly  ignorant  and  be¬ 
nighted.  They  were  the  very  reverse.  They  mostly 
belonged  to  families  in  the  better  conditions  of  life,  and, 
many  of  them,  to  the  highest  social  level.  They  were 
all  persons  of  great  moral  firmness  and  rectitude,  as 
was  demonstrated  by  their  bearing  under  persecutions 
and  outrage,  and  when  confronting  the  terrors  of  death. 
Their  names  do  not  deserve  reproach,  and  their  memo¬ 
ries  ought  to  be  held  in  honor. 

The  following  account  of  the  examination  of  Eliza¬ 
beth  Cary  of  Charlestown,  given  by  her  husband, 
Captain  Cary,  a  shipmaster,  has  the  highest  interest, 
as  written  at  the  time  by  one  who  was  an  eye-witness, 
and  participated  in  the  sufferings  of  the  occasion :  — 

“May  24.  —  I  having  heard,  some  clays,  that  my  wife 
was  accused  of  witchcraft ;  being  much  disturbed  at  it,  by 
advice  went  to  Salem  Village,  to  see  if  the  afflicted  knew 
her:  we  arrived  there  on  the  24th  of  May.  It  happened 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


239 


to  be  a  day  appointed  for  examination ;  accordingly,  soon 
after  our  arrival,  Mr.  Hatliorne  and  Mr.  Corwin,  &c.,  went 
to  the  meeting-house,  which  was  the  place  appointed  for  that 
work.  The  minister  began  with  prayer  ;  and,  having  taken 
care  to  get  a  convenient  place,  I  observed  that  the  afflicted 
were  two  girls  of  about  ten  years  old,  and  about  two  or 
three  others  of  about  eighteen  :  one  of  the  girls  talked  most, 
and  could  discern  more  than  the  rest. 

“  The  prisoners  were  called  in  one  by  one,  and,  as  they 
came  in,  were  cried  out  at,  &c.  The  prisoners  were  placed 
about  seven  or  eight  feet  from  the  justices,  and  the  accusers 
between  the  justices  and  them.  The  prisoners  were  ordered 
to  stand  right  before  the  justices,  with  an  officer  appointed  to 
hold  each  hand,  lest  they  should  therewith  afflict  them :  and 
the  prisoners’  eyes  must  be  constantly  on  the  justices;  for, 
if  they  looked  on  the  afflicted,  they  would  either  fall  into 
fits,  or  cry  out  of  being  hurt  by  them.  After  an  examina¬ 
tion  of  the  prisoners,  who  it  was  afflicted  these  girls,  &c., 
they  were  put  upon  saying  the  Lord’s  Prayer,  as  a  trial  of 
their  guilt.  After  the  afflicted  seemed  to  be  out  of  their 
fits,  they  would  look  steadfastly  on  some  one  person,  and 
frequently  not  speak  ;  and  then  the  justices  said  they  were 
struck  dumb,  and  after  a  little  time  would  speak  again  :  then 
the  justices  said  to  the  accusers,  ‘  Which  of  you  will  go 
and  touch  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  ?  ’  Then  the  most  coura¬ 
geous  would  adventure,  but,  before  they  had  made  three 
steps,  would  ordinarily  fall  down  as  in  a  fit :  the  justices 
ordered  that  they  should  be  taken  up  and  carried  to  the 
prisoner,  that  she  might  touch  them ;  and  as  soon  as  they 
were  touched  by  the  accused,  the  justices  would  say,  4  They 
are  well,’  before  I  could  discern  any  alteration,  —  by  which 
I  observed  that  the  justices  understood  the  manner  of  it. 


240 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  YILLAGE. 


Thus  far  I  was  only  as  a  spectator :  my  wife  also  was  there 
part  of  the  time,  but  no  notice  was  taken  of  her  by  the 
afflicted,  except  once  or  twice  they  came  to  her,  and  asked 
her  name.  But  I,  having  an  opportunity  to  discourse  Mr. 
Hale  (with  whom  I  had  formerly  acquaintance),  I  took  his 
advice  what  I  had  best  do,  and  desired  of  him  that  I  might 
have  an  opportunity  to  speak  Avith  her  that  accused  my 
Avife  ;  which  he  promised  should  be,  I  acquainting  him  that 
I  reposed  my  trust  in  him.  Accordingly,  he  came  to  me 
after  the  examination  Avas  over,  and  told  me  I  had  noAv  an 
opportunity  to  speak  Avith  the  said  accuser,  Abigail  Wil¬ 
liams,  a  girl  eleven  or  tAvelve  years  old ;  but  that  Ave  could 
not  be  in  private  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house,  as  he  had  promised 
me  :  Ave  Avent  therefore  into  the  alehouse,  Avhere  an  Indian 
man  attended  us,  aa4io,  it  seems,  was  one  of  the  afflicted  ;  to 
him  Ave  gave  some  cider :  he  shoAved  several  scars,  that 
seemed  as  if  they  had  been  long  there,  and  shoAved  them 
as  done  by  witchcraft,  and  acquainted  us  that  his  Avife,  avIio 
also  was  a  sla\Te,  Avas  imprisoned  for  witchcraft.  And  iaoav, 
instead  of  one  accuser,  they  all  came  in,  and  began  to  tumble 
down  like  SAvine ;  and  then  three  women  were  called  in  to 
attend  them.  We  in  the  room  were  all  at  a  stand  to  see 
avIio  they  would  cry  out  of ;  but  in  a  short  time  they  cried  out 
‘  Cary ;  ’  and,  immediately  after,  a  warrant  Avas  sent  from 
the  justices  to  bring  my  Avife  before  them,  avIio  Avere  sitting 
in  a  chamber  near  by,  waiting  for  this.  Being  brought 
before  the  justices,  her  chief  accusers  Avere  tAvo  girls.  My 
wife  declared  to  the  justices,  that  she  never  had  any  knowl¬ 
edge  of  them  before  that  day.  She  Avas  forced  to  stand 
with  her  arms  stretched  out.  I  requested  that  I  might  hold 
one  of  her  hands,  but  it  Avas  denied  me  :  then  she  desired 
me  to  Avipe  the  tears  from  her  eyes,  and  the  SAveat  from  her 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


241 


face,  ■which  I  did ;  then  she  desired  she  might  lean  herself 
on  me,  saying  she  should  faint.  Justice  Hathorne  replied 
she  had  strength  enough  to  torment  these  persons,  and  she 
should  have  strength  enough  to  stand.  I  speaking  some¬ 
thing  against  their  cruel  proceedings,  they  commanded  me 
to  be  silent,  or  else  I  should  be  turned  out  of  the  room. 
The  Indian  before  mentioned  was  also  brought  in,  to  be 
one  of  her  accusers  ;  being  come  in,  he  now  (when  before 
the  justices)  fell  down,  and  tumbled  about  like  a  hog,  but 
said  nothing.  The  justices  asked  the  girls  who  afflicted  the 
Indian:  they  answered  she  (meaning  my  wife),  and  that 
she  now  lay  upon  him.  The  justices  ordered  her  to  touch 
him,  in  order  to  his  cure,  but  her  head  must  be  turned 
another  way,  lest,  instead  of  curing,  she  should  make  him 
worse  by  her  looking  on  him,  her  hand  being  guided  to 
take  hold  of  his ;  but  the  Indian  took  hold  of  her  hand,  and 
pulled  her  down  on  the  floor  in  a  barbarous  manner :  then 
his  hand  was  taken  off,  and  her  hand  put  on  his,  aud  the 
cure  was  quickly  wrought.  I  being  extremely  troubled  at 
their  inhuman  dealings,  uttered  a  hasty  speech,  4  That  God 
would  take  vengeance  on  them,  and  desired  that  God  would 
deliver  us  out  of  the  hands  of  unmerciful  men.’  Then  her 
mittimus  was  writ.  I  did  with  difficulty  and  charge  obtain 
the  liberty  of  a  room,  but  no  beds  in  it;  if  there  had  been, 
could  have  taken  but  little  rest  that  night.  She  was  com¬ 
mitted  to  Boston  prison  ;  but  I  obtained  a  habeas  corpus  to 
remove  her  to  Cambridge  prison,  which  is  in  our  county  of 
Middlesex.  Having  been  there  one  night,  next  morning  the 
jailer  put  irons  on  her  legs  (having  received  such  a  com¬ 
mand)  ;  the  weight  of  them  was  about  eight  pounds  :  these 
irons  and  her  other  afflictions  soon  brought  her  into  con- 

VOL.  II.  16 


242 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


vulsion  fits,  so  that  I  thought  she  would  have  died  that 
night.  I  sent  to  entreat  that  the  irons  might  be  taken  off* ; 
but  all  entreaties  were  in  vain,  if  it  would  have  saved  her 
life,  so  that  in  this  condition  she  must  continue.  The  trials 
at  Salem  coming  on,  I  went  thither  to  see  how  things  were 
managed :  and  finding  that  the  spectre  evidence  was  there 
received,  together  with  idle,  if  not  malicious  stories,  against 
people’s  lives,  I  did  easily  perceive  which  way  the  rest  would 
go  ;  for  the  same  evidence  that  served  for  one  would  serve 
for  all  the  rest.  I  acquainted  her  with  her  danger  ;  and  that, 
if  she  were  carried  to  Salem  to  be  tried,  I  feared  she  would 
never  return.  I  did  my  utmost  that  she  might  have  her 
trial  in  our  own  county;  I  with  several  others  petitioning 
the  judge  for  it,  and  were  put  in  hopes  of  it :  but  I  soon 
saw  so  much,  that  I  understood  thereby  it  was  not  in¬ 
tended  ;  which  put  me  upon  consulting  the  means  of  her 
escape,  which,  through  the  goodness  of  God,  was  effected, 
and  she  got  to  Rhode  Island,  but  soon  found  herself  not 
safe  when  there,  by  reason  of  the  pursuit  after  her ;  from 
thence  she  went  to  New  York,  along  with  some  others  that 
had  escaped  their  cruel  hands,  where  we  found  his  Excel¬ 
lency  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Esq.,  Governor,  who  was  very 
courteous  to  us.  After  this,  some  of  my  goods  were  seized 
in  a  friend’s  hands,  with  whom  I  had  left  them,  and  myself 
imprisoned  by  the  sheriff,  and  kept  in  custody  half  a  day, 
and  then  dismissed  ;  but  to  speak  of  their  usage  of  the 
prisoners,  and  the  inhumanity  shown  to  them  at  the  time 
of  their  execution,  no  sober  Christian  could  bear.  They 
had  also  trials  of  cruel  Blockings,  which  is  the  more,  con¬ 
sidering  what  a  people  for  religion,  I  mean  the  profession 
of  it,  we  have  been ;  those  that  suffered  being  many  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


243 


them  church  members,  and  most  of  them  unspotted  in  their 
conversation,  till  their  adversary  the  Devil  took  up  this 
method  for  accusing  them.  Jonathan  Cary.” 

The  only  account  we  have,  written  by  one  who  had 
actually  experienced,  in  his  own  person,  what  it  was 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  those  who  got  up  and  carried 
on  the  prosecutions,  is*the  following.  Captain  Alden 
had  probably  been  from  an  early  stage  in  their  opera¬ 
tions  in  the  eye  of  the  accusing  girls.  He  was  meant, 
perhaps,  by  what  often  fell  from  them  about  “  the  tall 
man  in  Boston.”  We  are  left  entirely  to  conjecture 
as  to  the  reason  why  they  singled  him  out,  as  not  one 
of  them,  we  may  be  quite  sure,  had  ever  seen  him. 
It  may  be  that  some  person  who  had  experienced 
discipline  under  his  orders  as  a  naval  commander 
bore  him  a  grudge,  and  took  pains  to  suggest  his 
name  to  the  girls,  and  provided  them  with  the  coarse, 
vulgar,  and  ridiculous  scandal  they  so  recklessly 
poured  out  upon  him :  — 

“  An  Account  how  John  Alden ,  $r.,  ivas  dealt  with  at  Salem 

Village. 

“  John  Alden,  Sr.,  of  Boston,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk, 
mariner,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  May,  1692,  was 
sent  for  by  the  magistrates  of  Salem,  in  the  county  of 
Essex,  upon  the  accusation  of  a  company  of  poor  distracted 
or  possessed  creatures  or  witches;  and,  being  sent  by  Mr. 
Stoughton,  arrived  there  on  the  31st  of  May,  and  appeared 
at  Salem  Village  before  Mr.  Gedney,  Mr.  Hatliorne,  and 
Mr.  Corwin. 

“  Those  wenches  being  present  who  played  their  jug- 


244 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


gliug  tricks,  falling  down,  crying  out,  and  staring  in  people’s 
faces,  the  magistrates  demanded  of  them  several  times, 
who  it  was,  of  all  the  people  in  the  room,  that  hurt  them. 
One  of  these  accusers  pointed  several  times  at  one  Captain 
Hill,  there  present,  but  spake  nothing.  The  same  accuser 
had  a  man  standing  at  her  back  to  hold  her  up.  He  stooped 
down  to  her  ear  :  then  she  cried  out,  ‘  Alden,  Alden  afflicted 
her.’  One  of  the  magistrates  asled  her  if  she  had  ever 
seen  Alden.  She  answered,  ‘  No.’  He  asked  her  how  she 
knew  it  was  Alden.  She  said  the  man  told  her  so. 

“  Then  all  were  ordered  to  go  down  into  the  street, 

« 

where  a  ring  was  made  ;  and  the  same  accuser  cried  out, 
1  There  stands  Alden,  a  bold  fellow,  with  his  hat  on  before 
the  judges :  he  sells  powder  and  shot  to  the  Indians  and 
French,  and  lies  with  the  Indian  squaws,  and  has  Indian 
papooses.’  Then  was  Alden  committed  to  the  marshal’s 
custody,  and  his  sword  taken  from  him  ;  for  they  said  he 
afflicted  them  with  his  sword.  After  some  hours,  Alden 
was  sent  for  to  the  meetingdiouse  in  the  Village,  before 
the  magistrates,  who  required  Alden  to  stand  upon  a  chair, 
to  the  open  view  of  all  the  people. 

“  The  accusers  cried  out  that  Alden  pinched  them  then, 
when  he  stood  upon  the  chair,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people, 
a  good  way  distant  from  them.  One  of  the  magistrates 
bid  the  marshal  to  hold  open  Alden’s  hands,  that  he  might 
not  pinch  those  creatures.  Alden  asked  them  why  they 
should  think  that  he  should  come  to  that  village  to  afflict 
those  persons  that  he  never  knew  or  saw  before.  Mr. 
Gedney  bid  Alden  to  confess,  and  give  glory  to  God.  Alden 
said  he  hoped  he  should  give  glory  to  God,  and  hoped  he 
should  never  gratify  the  Devil :  but  appealed  to  all  that  ever 
knew  him,  if  they  ever  suspected  him  to  be  such  a  person  ; 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


245 


and  challenged  any  one  that  could  bring  in  any  thing  on 
their  own  knowledge,  that  might  give  suspicion  of  his  being 
such  an  one.  Mr.  Gedney  said  he  had  known  Aldcn  many 
years,  and  had  been  at  sea  with  him,  and  always  looked 
upon  him  to  he  an  honest  man  ;  but  now  he  saw  cause  to 
alter  his  judgment.  Alden  answered,  he  was  sorry  for  that, 
but  he  hoped  God  would  clear  up  his  innocency,  that  he 

would  recall  that  judgment  again  ;  and  added,  that  he  hoped 

* 

that  he  should,  with  Job,  maintain  his  integrity  till  he  died. 
They  bid  Alden  look  upon  the  accusers,  which  he  did,  and 
then  they  fell  down.  Alden  asked  Mr.  Gedney  what  reason 
there  could  be  given  why  Alden’s  looking  upon  him  did 
not  strike  him  down  as  well :  but  no  reason  was  given  that 
I  heard.  But  the  accusers  were  brought  to  Alden  to  touch 
them  ;  and  this  touch,  they  said,  made  them  well.  Alden 
began  to  speak  of  the  providence  of  God  in  suffering  these 
creatures  to  accuse  innocent  persons.  Mr.  Noyes  asked 
Alden  why  he  should  offer  to  speak  of  the  providence  of 
God:  God,  by  his  providence  (said  Mr.  Noyes),  governs 
the  world,  and  keeps  it  in  peace  ;  and  so  went  on  with 
discourse,  and  stopped  Alden’s  mouth  as  to  that.  Alden 
told  Mr.  Gedney  that  he  could  assure  him  that  there  was  a 
lying  spirit  in  them  ;  for  I  can  assure  you  that  there  is  not 
a  word  of  truth  in  all  these  say  of  me.  But  Alden  was 
again  committed  to  the  marshal,  and  his  mittimus  written. 

“  To  Boston  Alden  was  carried  by  a  constable :  no  bail 
would  be  taken  for  him,  but  was  delivered  to  the  prison- 
keeper,  where  he  remained  fifteen  weeks ;  and  then,  observ¬ 
ing  the  manner  of  trials,  and  evidence  then  taken,  Avas  at 
length  prevailed  with  to  make  his  escape. 

“Per  John  Alden.” 


246 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Alden  made  his  escape  about  the  middle  of  Septem¬ 
ber,  at  the  bloodiest  crisis  of  the  tragedy,  and  just 
before  the  execution  of  nine  of  the  victims,  including 
that  of  Giles  Corey.  He  is  understood  to  have  fled 
to  Duxbury,  where  his  relatives  secreted  him.  He 
made  his  appearance  among  them  late  at  night ;  and, 
on  their  asking  an  explanation  of  his  unexpected  visit 
at  that  hour,  replied  that  he  was  flying  from  the 
Devil,  and  the  Devil  was  after  him.  After  a  while, 
when  the  delusion  had  abated,  and  people  were  com¬ 
ing  to  their  senses,  he  delivered  himself  up,  and  was 
bound  over  to  the  Superior  Court  at  Boston,  the  last 
Tuesday  in  April,  1693,  when,  no  one  appearing  to 
prosecute,  he,  with  some  hundred  and  fifty  others,  was 
discharged  by  proclamation,  and  all  judicial  proceed¬ 
ings  brought  to  a  close.  It  is  to  be  feared,  that  ever 
after,  to  his  dying  day,  when  the  subject  of  his  ex¬ 
perience  on  the  31st  of  May,  1692,  was  referred  to, 
the  old  sailor  indulged  in  rather  strong  expressions 
in  relating  his  reminiscences  of  Rev.  “  Mr.  Nicho¬ 
las  Noyes,”  “  Mr.  Bartholomew  Gedney,”  and  the 
“  wenches  ”  of  Salem  Village. 

Captain  John  Alden  was  a  son  of  John  Alden, 
ever  memorable  as  one  of  the  first  founders  of  Plym¬ 
outh  Colony.  He  had  been  for  more  than  thirty 
years  a  resident  of  Boston,  a  member  of  the  church, 
and  in  all  respects  a  leading  and  distinguished  man. 
For  some  time,  he  had  been  commander  of  the  armed 
vessel  belonging  to  the  colony,  and  was  a  brave  and 
efficient  officer  and  an  able  and  experienced  mail- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


247 


ner.  lie  had  seen  service  in  French  and  Indian  wars, 
had  acted  two  years  before,  that  is  in  1G90,  as  com¬ 
missioner  in  conducting-  negotiations  with  the  native 
tribes,  and,  at  a  later  period,  was  charged  with  impor¬ 
tant  trusts  as  a  naval  commander.  He  was  a  man 
of  large  property,  and  seventy  years  of  age.  He  was, 
as  well  he  might  be,  utterly  confounded  and  amazed 
in  finding  himself  charged  as  a  principal  culprit  in 
the  Salem  witchcraft.  The  accusing  girls  were  evi¬ 
dently  delighted  to  get  hold  of  such  a  notable  and 
doughty  character ;  and  their  tongues  were  released, 
on  the  occasion,  from  all  restraints  of  decorum  and 
decency.  When  the  ring  was  formed  around  him 
“  in  the  street,”  in  front  of  Deacon  Ingersoll’s  door, 
his  sword  unbuckled  from  his  side,  and  such  foul 
and  vulgar  aspersions  cast  upon  his  good  name,  he 
felt,  no  doubt,  that  it  would  have  been  better  to  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  savages  of  the  wilderness  or 
pirates  on  the  sea,  than  of  the  crowd  of  audacious 
girls  that  hustled  him  about  in  Salem  Village.  It 
was  a  relief  to  his  wounded  honor,  and  gave  leisure 
for  the  workings  of  his  indignant  resentment,  to  escape 
from  them  into  Boston  jail.  Not  only  his  old  ship¬ 
mate,  Bartholomew  Gedney,  but,  as  will  be  seen,  the 
learned  attorney-general,  who  was  present,  and  wit¬ 
nessed  the  whole  affair,  was  fully  convinced  of  his 
guilt. 

The  wife  of  an  honest  and  worthy  man  in  Andover 
was  sick  of  a  fever.  After  all  the  usual  means  had 
failed  to  check  the  symptoms  of  her  disease,  the  idea 


248 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


became  prevalent  that  she  was  suffering  under  an 
“  evil  hand.”  The  husband,  pursuant  of  the  advice 
of  friends,  posted  down  to  Salem  Village  to  ascertain 
from  the  afflicted  girls  who  was  bewitching  his  wife. 
Two  of  them  returned  with  him  to  Andover.  Never 
did  a  place  receive  such  fatal  visitors;  The  Grecian 
horse  did  not  bring  greater  consternation  to  ancient 
Ilium.  Immediately  after  their  arrival,  they  succeeded 
in  getting  more  than  fifty  of  the  inhabitants  into 
prison,  several  of  whom  were  hanged.  A  perfect  panic 
swept  like  a  hurricane  over  the  place.  The  idea  seized 
all  minds,  as  Hutchinson  expresses  it,  that  the  only 
“  way  to  prevent  an  accusation  was  to  become  an 
accuser.”  —  “The  number  of  the  afflicted  increased 
every  day,  and  the  number  of  the  accused  in  pro¬ 
portion.”  In  this  state  of  things,  such  a  great  acces¬ 
sion  being  made  to  the  ranks  of  the  confessing 
witches,  the  power  of  the  delusion  became  irresistibly 
strengthened.  Mr.  Dudley  Bradstreet,  the  magistrate 
of  the  place,  after  having  committed  about  forty  per¬ 
sons  to  jail,  concluded  he  had  done  enough,  and  de¬ 
clined  to  arrest  any  more.  The  consequence  was 
that  lie  and  his  wife  were  cried  out  upon,  and  they 
had  to  fly  for  their  lives.  They  accused  his  brother, 
John  Bradstreet,  with  having  “  afflicted  ”  a  dog.  Brad- 
street  escaped  by  flight.  The  dog  was  executed.  The 
number  of  persons  who  had  publicly  confessed  that 
they  had  entered  into  a  league  with  Satan,  and  ex¬ 
ercised  the  diabolical  power  thus  acquired,  to  the 
injury,  torment,  and  death  of  innocent  parties,  pro- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


249 


duced  a  profound  effect  upon  the  public  mind.  At 
the  same  time,  the  accusers  had  everywhere  increased 
in  number,  owing  to  the  inflamed  state  of  imagina¬ 
tion  universally  prevalent  which  ascribed  all  ailments 
or  diseases  to  the  agency  of  witches,  to  a  mere  love 
of  notoriety  and  a  passion  for  general  sympathy,  to 
a  desire  to  be  secure  against  the  charge  of  bewitching 
others,  or  to  a  malicious  disposition  to  wreak  ven¬ 
geance  upon  enemies.  The  prisons  in  Salem,  Ipswich, 
Boston,  and  Cambridge,  were  crowded.  All  the  secu¬ 
rities  of  society  were  dissolved.  Every  man’s  life  was 
at  the  mercy  of  every  other  man.  Fear  sat  on  every 
countenance,  terror  and  distress  wrere  in  all  hearts, 
silence  pervaded  the  streets :  all  who  could,  quit  the 
country ;  business  was  at  a  stand ;  a  conviction  sunk 
into  the  minds  of  men,  that  a  dark  and  infernal  con¬ 
federacy  had  got  foot-hold  in  the  land,  threatening  to 
overthrow  and  extirpate  religion  and  morality,  and 
establish  the  kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  darkness  in 
a  country  which  had  been  dedicated,  by  the  prayers 
and  tears  and  sufferings  of  its  pious  fathers,  to  the 
Church  of  Christ  and  the  service  and  worship  of 
the  true  God.  The  feeling,  dismal  and  horrible  in¬ 
deed,  became  general,  that  the  providence  of  God 
was  removed  from  them ;  that  Satan  was  let  loose, 
and  he  and  his  confederates  had  free  and  unre¬ 
strained  power  to  go  to  and  fro,  torturing  and  destroy¬ 
ing  whomever  he  willed.  We  cannot,  by  any  extent 
of  research  or  power  of  imagination,  enter  fully  into 
the  ideas  of  the  people  of  that  day ;  and  it  is  there- 


250 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


fore  absolutely  impossible  to  appreciate  the  awful  con¬ 
dition  of  tbe  community  at  the  point  of  time  to  which 
our  narrative  lias  led  us. 

In  the  midst  of  this  state  of  things,  the  old  colony 
of  Massachusetts  was  transformed  into  a  royal  prov¬ 
ince,  and  a  new  government  organized.  Sir  William 
Phips,  the  governor,  arrived  at  Boston,  with  the 
new  charter,  on  the  evening  of  the  14th  of  May. 
William  Stoughton,  of  Dorchester,  superseded  Thomas 
Danforth  as  deputy-governor.  In  the  Council,  which 
took  the  place  of  the  Assistants,  most  of  the  former 
body  were  retained.  Bartholomew  Gedney  had  a  few 
years  before  been  dropped  from  the  hoard  of  Assistants. 
He  was  now  placed  in  the  Council  with  John  Hathorne, 
Jonathan  Corwin,  Samuel  Appleton,  and  Robert  Pike, 
of  this  county.  The  new  government  did  not  interfere 
with  the  proceedings  in  progress  relating  to  the 
witchcraft  prosecutions,  at  the  moment.  Examina¬ 
tions  and  commitments  went  on  as  before ;  only  the 
magistrates,  acting  on  those  occasions,  were  re-enforced 
by  Mr.  Gedney,  who  presided  at  their  sessions.  The 
affair  had  become  so  formidable,  and  the  public  infatu¬ 
ation  had  reached  such  a  point,  that  it  was  difficult 
to  determine  what  ought  to  be  done.  Sir  William 
Phips,  no  doubt,  felt  that  it  was  beyond  his  depth, 
and  yielded  himself  to  the  views  of  the  leading  men 
of  his  council.  Stoughton  was  in  full  sympathy  with 
Cotton  Mather,  whose  interest  had  been  used  in  pro¬ 
curing  his  appointment  over  Danforth.  Through  him, 
Mather  acquired,  and  held  for  some  time,  great  as- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


251 


cendency  with  the  governor.  It  was  concluded  best 
to  appoint  a  special  court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  for 
the  witchcraft  trials.  Stoughton,  the  deputy-governor, 
was  commissioned  as  chief-justice.  Nathaniel  Salton- 
stall  of  Haverhill;  Major  John  Richards  of  Boston; 
Major  Bartholomew  Gedney  of  Salem ;  Mr.  Wait  Win- 
tlirop,  Captain  Samuel  Sewall,  and  Mr.  Peter  Sargent, 
all  three  of  Boston,  —  were  made  associate  judges. 
Saltonstall  early  withdrew  from  the  service  ;  and  Jona¬ 
than  Corwin,  of  Salem,  succeeded  to  his  place  on  the 
bench  of  the  special  court.  A  majority  of  the  judges 
were  citizens  of  Boston. 

Jonathan  Corwin  had  been  associated  with  Ha- 
tliorne  in  conducting  the  examinations  that  have  been 
described.  He  was  a  son  of  George  Corwin,  who  has 
been  noticed  in  the  account  of  Salem  Tillage. 

A  shade  of  illegality  rests  upon  the  very  existence 
of  this  special  court.  There  has  always  been  a  ques¬ 
tion  whether  the  new  charter  gave  to  the  governor 
and  council  power  to  create  it  without  the  concur¬ 
rence  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  It  has  been 
held  that  such  a  court  could  have  no  other  lawful 
foundation  than  an  act  of  the  General  Court.  Hutch¬ 
inson  was  evidently  of  this  opinion.  This  question 
was  a  very  serious  one ;  for,  as  that  considerate  and 
able  historian  and  eminent  judicial  officer  says,  the 
tribunal  that  passed  sentence  in  the  witchcraft  prose¬ 
cutions  was  “  the  most  important  court  to  the  life 
of  the  subject  which  was  ever  held  in  the  province.” 
The  time  required  to  convene  the  popular  branch  of  the 


252 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


government  is  itself,  in  all  cases,  an  element  of  safety. 
In  this  case,  it  would  have  carried  the  country  beyond 
the  period  of  the  delusion,  and  saved  its  annals  from 
their  darkest  and  bloodiest  page.  The  condition  of 
things  when  he  arrived,  had  his  counsellors  been  wise, 
would  have  led  Sir  William  Phips  forthwith  to  issue 
writs  of  election  of  deputies,  before  taking  any  action 
whatever.  In  a  free  republican  government,  the  ex¬ 
ecutive  department  ought  never  to  attempt  to  dispose 
of  difficult  matters  of  vital  importance  without  the 
joint  deliberations  and  responsibility  of  the  represen¬ 
tatives  of  the  people. 

So  far  as  the  composition  of  the  court  is  consid¬ 
ered,  no  objection  can  be  made.  The  justices  were 
all  members  of  the  council,  and  belonged  to  the  high¬ 
est  order,  not  only  of  the  magistracy,  but  of  society 
generally.  They  constituted  as  respectable  a  body  of 
gentlemen  as  could  have  been  collected.  Thomas 
Newton,  of  Boston,  was  commissioned  to  act  as  attor¬ 
ney-general.  The  official  title  of  marshal  ceasing  with 
the  new  government,  George  Corwin  was  appointed 
sheriff  of  the  county  of  Essex.  Herrick  appears  to 
have  continued  in  the  service  as  deputy.  Sheriff 
Corwin  was  twenty-six  years  of  age.  He  was  the 
grandson  of  the  original  George  Corwin,  and  the  son 
of  John.  His  mother  was  grand-daugliter  of  Gov¬ 
ernor  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts,  and  daughter  of 
Governor  Winthrop  of  Connecticut.  His  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Bartholomew  Gedney ;  so  that  it  appears 
that  two  of  the  judges  were  his  uncles,  and  one  his 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


father-in-law.  These  personal  connections  may  he 
borne  in  mind,  as  affording  ground  to  believe,  that,  in 
the  discharge  of  his  painful  duties,  he  did  not  act  with¬ 
out  advice  and  suggestions  from  the  highest  quarter. 

The  court-house  in  which  the  trials  were  held  stood 
in  the  middle  of  what  is  now  Washington  Street,  near 
where  Lynde  and  Church  Streets,  which  did  not  then 
exist,  now  enter  it,  fronting  towards  Essex  Street. 
The  building  was  also  used  as  a  town-house  ;  Washing¬ 
ton  Street  being,  for  this  reason,  then  called  u  Town- 
house  Lane.”  Off  against  the  court-house,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  lane,  was  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Nicho¬ 
las  Noyes,  on  the  site  of  the  residence  of  the  late 
Robert  Brookhouse.  Opposite  to  it  was  the  estate 
of  Edward  Bishop,  which  fronted  westerly  on  “  Town- 
house  Lane  ”  a  little  over  a  hundred  feet,  including 
the  present  Jeffrey  Court,  and  extending  a  few  feet 
beyond  the  corner  of  the  house  of  Dr.  S.  M.  Cate, 
over  a  portion  of  Church  Street.  Its  depth,  towards 
St.  Peter  Street,  was  about  three  hundred  and  forty- 
five  feet.  Edward  Bishop  held  this  estate  in  the  right 
of  his  wife  Bridget,  the  widow  of  Thomas  Oliver 
who  had  died  about  1679.  Not  long  after  this  mar¬ 
riage,  Bishop  removed  to  his  farm  at  Royal  Side.  In 
1685,  the  “  old  Oliver  house  ”  was  either  removed  or 
rebuilt,  and  a  new  one  erected  on  the  same  premises, 
which  was  occupied  by  tenants  in  1692.  These  items 
are  given  because  they  will  help  to  illustrate  the 
narrative,  and  enable  us  to  understand  points  of 
evidence  in  the  approaching  trial.  It  is  a  curious 


254 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


circumstance,  that  the  first  public  victim  of  the  prose¬ 
cutions,  Bridget  Bishop,  had  been  the  nearest  neighbor 
and  lived  directly  opposite,  to  the  person  who,  more 
than  any  other  inhabitant  of  the  town,  was  responsible 
for  the  blood  that  was  shed,  —  Nicholas  Noyes.  The 
jail,  at  that  time,  was  on  the  western  side  of  Prison 
Lane,  now  St.  Peter  Street,  north  of  the  point  where 
Federal  Street  now  enters  it.  The  meeting-house 
stood  on  what  has  always  been  the  site  of  the  First 
Church.  The  “  Ship  Tavern  ”  was  on  ground  the 
front  of  which  is  occupied,  at  present,  by  “  West’s 
Block,”  nearly  opposite  the  head  of  Central  Street. 
It  had  long  been  owned  and  kept  by  John  Gedney, 
Sr.  Two  of  his  sons,  John  and  Bartholomew,  had 
married  Susanna  and  Hannah  Clarke.  John  died  in 
1685.  His  widow  moved  into  the  family  of  her  father- 
in-law  ;  and,  after  his  death  in  1688,  continued  to  keep 
the  house.  In  1698  she  was  married  to  Deliverance 
Parkman,  and  died  in  1728.  The  tavern,  in  1692,  was 
known  as  the  “  Widow  Gedney’s.”  The  estate  had  an 
extensive  orchard  in  the  rear,  contiguous,  along  its 
northern  boundary,  to  the  orchard  of  Bridget  Bishop, 
which  occupied  ground  now  covered  by  the  Lyceum 
building,  and  one  or  two  others  to  the  east  of  it. 

The  Court  was  opened  at  Salem  in  the  first  week 
of  June,  1692.  In  the  mean  time,  the  attorney-general, 
to  prepare  for  the  management  of  the  cases,  came  to 
Salem.  He  addressed  the  following  letter  to  Isaac 
Addington,  Secretary  of  the  province :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


255 


“  Salem,  31st  May,  1692. 


“  Worthy  Sir,  —  I  have  herewith  sent  you  the  names 
of  the  prisoners  that  are  desired  to  be  transmitted  by  habeas 
corpus  ;  and  have  presumed  to  send  you  a  copy  thereof,  being 
more,  as  I  presume,  accustomed  to  that  practice  than  your¬ 
self,  and  beg  pardon  if  I  have  infringed  upon  you  therein. 
I  fear  we  shall  not  this  week  try  all  that  we  have  sent  for  ; 
by  reason  the  trials  will  be  tedious,  and  the  afflicted  per¬ 
sons  cannot  readily  give  their  testimonies,  being  struck  dumb 
and  senseless,  for  a  season,  at  the  name  of  the  accused.  I 
have  been  all  this  day  at  the  Village,  with  the  gentlemen 
of  the  council,  at  the  examination  of  the  persons,  where  I 
have  beheld  strange  things,  scarce  credible  but  to  the  specta¬ 
tors,  and  too  tedious  here  to  relate  ;  and,  amongst  the  rest, 
Captain  Alden  and  Mr.  English  have  their  mittimus.  I 
must  say,  according  to  the  present  appearances  of  things, 
they  are  as  deeply  concerned  as  the  rest ;  for  the  afflicted 
spare  no  person  of  what  quality  soever,  neither  conceal 
their  crimes,  though  never  so  heinous.  We  pray  that  Tituba 
the  Indian,  and  Mrs.  Thacher’s  maid,  may  be  transferred 
as  evidence,  but  desire  they  may  not  come  amongst  the 
prisoners  but  rather  by  themselves ;  with  the  records  in 
the  Court  of  Assistants,  1679,  against  Bridget  Oliver,  and  the 
records  relating  to  the  first  persons  committed,  left  in  Mr. 
Webb’s  hands  by  the  order  of  the  council.  I  pray  pardon 
that  I  cannot  now  further  enlarge  ;  and,  with  my  cordial 
service,  only  add  that  I  am,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 


256 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Hutchinson  says  that  there  was  no  colony  or  prov¬ 
ince  law  against  witchcraft  in  force  when  the  trials 
began ;  and  that  the  proceedings  were  under  an  act  of 
James  the  First,  passed  in  1603.  By  that  act,  persons 
convicted  were  to  be  sentenced  to  u  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  death  as  felons.”  By  the  colonial  law,  con¬ 
viction  of  capital  crimes  did  not  incapacitate  the  party 
atfected  from  disposing  of  property.  In  this  and  other 
respects,  there  were  points  of  difference,  which  caused 
some  inconvenience  in  carrying  out  the  practice  of 
the  mother-country ;  and  the  attorney-general  had  to 
supply  the  want  of  experience  in  the  local  officers. 

It  may  here  be  mentioned,  that  no  record  of  the 
doings  of  this  special  court  are  now  to  be  found,  and 
our  only  information  respecting  them  is  obtained  in 
brief  and  imperfect  statements  of  writers  of  the  time. 
Perhaps  Hutchinson  had  the  use  of  the  records.  He 
gives  the  dates  of  the  several  sessions  of  the  courts, 
and  of  the  conviction  and  execution  of  the  prisoners. 
Some  of  the  depositions  sworn  to  in  court  are  on  file, 
but  without  giving  in  many  instances  the  date  when 
thus  offered  in  the  trials.  In  some  cases,  they  state 
when  they  were  laid  before  the  grand  jury.  Only  a 
small  part  of  them  are  preserved.  The  matter  they 
contain  was,  to  a  considerable  extent,  brought  forward 
at  the  preliminary  examinations,  and  has  been  already 
adduced.  In  the  following  account  of  the  trials,  some 
further  use  will  be  made  of  these  depositions. 

Bridget  Bishop  was  the  only  person  tried  at  the 
first  session  of  the  Court.  She  was  brought  through 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


257 


Prison  Lane,  up  Essex  Street,  by  the  First  Church, 
into  Town-house  Lane,  to  the  Court-house.  Cotton 
Mather  says, — 

“  There  was  one  strange  thing  with  which  the  court  was 
newly  entertained.  As  this  woman  was  under  a  guard, 
passing  by  the  great  and  spacious  meeting-house,  she  gave 
a  look  towards  the  house  ;  and  immediately  a  demon,  in¬ 
visibly  entering  the  meeting-house,  tore  down  a  part  of  it : 
so  that,  though  there  was  no  person  to  be  seen  there,  yet 
the  people,  at  the  noise,  running  in,  found  a  board,  which 
wras  strongly  fastened  with  several  nails,  transported  into 
another  quarter  of  the  house.” 

It  is  probable  that  the  streets  were  thronged  by 
crowds  eager  to  get  a  sight  of  the  prisoner ;  and  that 
the  doors,  fences,  and  house-tops  were  occupied.  Some, 
perhaps,  got  into  the  meeting-house ;  and,  in  clamber¬ 
ing  up  to  the  windows,  a  hoard  may  have  been  put  in 
requisition,  and  left  misplaced.  Incredible  almost  as 
it  is,  this  circumstance  seems,  from  Mather’s  lan¬ 
guage, —  “the  court  was  entertained,”  —  to  have  been 
brought  in  evidence  at  the  trial,  and  regarded  as 
weighty  and  conclusive  proof  of  Bridget’s  guilt. 

One  or  two  points  in  the  evidence  adduced  against 
her,  in  addition  to  those  mentioned  heretofore,  deserve 
consideration.  The  position  taken,  at  her  trial,  by 
the  Rev.  John  Hale  of  Beverly  demands  criticism. 
The  charge  of  witchcraft  had  been  made  against  her 
on  more  than  one  occasion  before ;  particularly  about 
the  year  1687,  when  she  resided  near  the  bounds  of 
Beverly,  at  Royal  Side.  A  woman  in  the  neighbor- 

17 


VOL.  II. 


258 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


hood,  subject  to  fits  of  insanity,  had,  while  passing  into 
one  of  them,  brought  the  accusation  against  her ;  but, 
on  the  return  of  her  reason,  solemnly  recanted,  and 
deeply  lamented  the  aspersion.  In  a  violent  recur¬ 
rence  of  her  malady,  this  woman  committed  suicide. 
Mr.  Hale  had  examined  the  case  at  the  time,  and 
exonerated  Bridget  Bishop,  who  was  a  communicant  in 
his  church,  from  the  charge  made  against  her  by  the 
unhappy  lunatic.  He  was  satisfied,  as  he  states,  that 
“  Sister  Bishop  ”  was  innocent,  and  in  no  way  deserved 
to  be  ill  thought  of.  He  hoped  “  better  of  said  Goody 
Bishop  at  that  time.”  Without  any  pretence  of  new 
evidence  touching  the  facts  of  the  case,  he  came  into 
court  in  1692,  and  related  them,  to  the  effect  and 
with  the  intent  to  make  them  bear  against  her.  He 
described  the  appearance  of  the  throat  of  the  woman, 
after  death,  as  follows  :  — 

“  As  to  the  wounds  she  died  of,  I  observed  three  deadly 
ones ;  a  piece  of  her  windpipe  cut  out,  and  another  wound 
above  that  through  the  windpipe  and  gullet,  and  the  vein 
they  call  jugular.  So  that  I  then  judged  and  still  do  appre¬ 
hend  it  impossible  for  her,  with  so  short  a  pair  of  scissors,  to 
mangle  herself  so  without  some  extraordinary  work  of  the 
Devil  or  witchcraft.” 

If  this  was  his  impression  at  the  time,  it  is  strange 
that  he  did  not  then  say  so.  But  there  is  no  appear¬ 
ance  of  any  criminal  proceedings  having  been  had,  by 
the  grand  jury  or  otherwise,  against  “  Sister  Bishop  ” 
on  the  occasion.  On  the  contrary,  Mr.  Hale  seems  to 
have  acquiesced  in  the  opinion,  that  the  derangement  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


259 


the  woman  was  aggravated,  if  not  caused,  by  her  being 
overmuch  given  to  searching  and  pondering  upon  the 
dark  passages  and  mysterious  imagery  of  prophecy. 
The  truth,  in  all  probability,  is,  that  Mr.  Hale’s  suspi¬ 
cion  was  an  after-thought.  The  effect  produced  upon 
his  mental  condition  by  the  statements  and  actings  of 
the  “  afflicted  children  ”  in  1G92  was  unconsciously 
transferred  to  1687.  The  delusion,  in  which  he  was 
then  fully  participating,  led  him  to  put  a  different 
interpretation  upon  the  suicidal  wounds  and  horrible 
end  of  the  wretched  maniac,  five  or  six  years  be¬ 
fore. 

A  piece  of  evidence,  which  illustrates  the  state  of 
opinion  at  that  time,  relating  to  our  subject,  given  in 
this  case,  is  worthy  of  notice.  Samuel  Shattuck  was 
a  hatter  and  dyer.  His  house  was  on  the  south  side 
of  Essex  Street,  opposite  the  western  entrance  to  the 
grounds  of  the  North  Church.  Before  her  removal  to 
the  village,  Bridget  Bishop  was  in  the  habit  of  calling 
at  Sliattuck’s  to  have  articles  of  dress  dyed.  He  states 
that  she  treated  him  and  his  family  politely  and  kindly  ; 
or,  as  he  characterized  her  deportment  after  his  mind 
had  become  jaundiced  against  her,  <£  in  a  smooth  and 
flattering  manner.”  He  tells  his  story  in  a  deposition 
written  by  him,  and  signed  and  sworn  to  in  Court 
by  himself  and  wife,  June  2,  1692.  It  is  as  fol¬ 
lows  :  — 

“  Our  eldest  child,  who  promised  as  much  health  and 
understanding,  both  by  countenance  and  actions,  as  any 
other  children  of  his  years,  was  taken  in  a  very  drooping 


260 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


condition  ;  and,  as  slie  came  oftener  to  the  house,  lie  grew 
worse  and  worse.  As  he  would  be  standing  at  the  door, 
would  fall  out,  and  bruise  his  face  upon  a  great  step-stone, 
as  if  he  had  been  thrust  out  by  an  invisible  hand  ;  often¬ 
times  falling,  and  hitting  his  face  against  the  sides  of  the 
house,  bruising  his  face  in  a  very  miserable  manner.  .  .  . 
This  child  taken  in  a  terrible  fit,  his  mouth  and  eyes 
drawn  aside,  and  gasped  in  such  a  manner  as  if  he  was  upon 
the  point  of  death.  After  this,  he  grew  worse  in  his  fits, 
and,  out  of  them,  would  be  almost  always  crying.  That, 
for  many  months,  he  would  be  crying  till  nature’s  strength 
was  spent,  and  then  would  fall  asleep,  and  then  awake,  and 
fall  to  crying  and  moaning  ;  and  that  his  very  countenance 
did  bespeak  compassion.  And  at  length,  we  perceived  his 
understanding  decayed  :  so  that  we  feared  (as  it  has  since 
proved)  that  he  would  be  quite  bereft  of  his  wits  ;  for,  ever 
since,  he  has  been  stupefied  and  void  of  reason,  his  fits  still 
following  of  him.  After  he  had  been  in  this  kind  of  sickness 
some  time,  he  has  gone  into  the  garden,  and  has  got  upon  a 
board  of  an  inch  thick,  which  lay  flat  upon  the  ground,  and  we 
have  called  him  ;  lie  would  come  to  the  edge  of  the  board,  and 
hold  out  his  hand,  and  make  as  if  he  would  come,  but  could 
not  till  he  was  helped  otf  the  board.  .  .  .  My  wife  has  offered 
him  a  cake  and  money  to  come  to  her  ;  and  he  has  held  out 
his  hand,  and  reached  after  it,  but  could  not  come  till  he  had 
been  helped  otf  the  board,  by  which  I  judge  some  enchant¬ 
ment  kept  him  on.  .  .  .  Ever  since,  this  child  hath  been  fol¬ 
lowed  with  grievous  fits,  as  if  he  would  never  recover  more  ; 
his  head  and  eyes  drawn  aside  so  as  if  they  would  never 
come  to  rights  more ;  lying  as  if  he  were,  in  a  manner, 
dead ;  falling  anywhere,  either  into  fire  or  water,  if  he  be 
not  constantly  looked  to  ;  and,  generally,  in  such  an  uneasy, 


261 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 

restless  frame,  almost  always  running  to  ancl  fro,  acting  so 
strange  that  I  cannot  judge  otherwise  but  that  he  is  be¬ 
witched  :  and,  by  these  circumstances,  do  believe  that  the 
aforesaid  Bridget  Oliver  —  now  called  Bishop  —  is  the  cause 
of  it :  and  it  has  been  the  judgment  of  doctors,  such  as  lived 
here  and  foreigners,  that  he  is  under  an  evil  hand  of  witch¬ 
craft.” 

The  means  used  to  give  this  direction  to  the  suspi¬ 
cions  of  Shattuck  and  his  wife  are  described  in  the 
notice  of  Bridget  Bishop,  in  the  First  Part  of  this  work. 

Shattuck  was  a  son  of  the  sturdy  Quaker  of  that 
name  who,  thirty  years  before,  had  given  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  colony  so  much  trouble,  and  seems  to 
have  inherited  some  of  his  notions.  In  his  deposition, 
he  mentions,  as  corroborative  proof  of  Bridget  Bishop’s 
being  a  witch,  that  she  used  to  bring  to  his  dye-house 
11  sundry  pieces  of  lace,”  of  shapes  and  dimensions 
entirely  outside  of  his  conceptions  of  what  could  be 
needed  in  the  wardrobe,  or  for  the  toilet,  of  a  plain  and 
honest  woman.  He  evidently  regarded  fashionable 
and  vain  apparel  as  a  snare  and  sign  of  the  Devil. 

The  imaginations  of  several  persons  in  Shattuck’s 
immediate  neighborhood  seem  to  have  been  wrought 
up  to  a  high  point  against  Bridget  Bishop.  John 
Cook  lived  on  the  south  side  of  the  street,  directly 
opposite  the  eastern  entrance  to  the  grounds  of  the 
North  Church,  on  its  present  site.  John  Ely’s  house 
was  on  a  lot  contiguous  to  the  rear  of  Cook’s,  fronting 
on  Summer  Street.  One  of  Cook’s  sons  (John),  aged 
eighteen,  testified,  that, — 


262 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


“  About  five  or  six  years  ago,  one  morning  about  sun-ris¬ 
ing,  as  I  was  in  bed,  before  I  rose,  I  saw  Goodwife  Bishop, 
alias  Oliver,  stand  in  the  chamber  by  the  window:  and  she 
looked  on  me  and  grinned  on  me,  and  presently  struck  me  on 
the  side  of  the  head,  which  did  very  much  hurt  me  ;  and  then 
I  saw  her  go  out  under  the  end  window  at  a  little  crevice, 
about  so  big  as  I  could  thrust  my  hand  into.  I  saw  her 
again  the  same  day,  —  which  was  the  sabbath-day,  —  about 
noon,  walk  across  the  room ;  and  having,  at  the  time,  an 
apple  in  my  hand,  it  flew  out  of  my  hand  into  my  mother’s 
lap,  who  sat  six  or  eight  foot  distance  from  me,  and  then  she 
disappeared:  and,  though  my  mother  and  several  others 
were  in  the  same  room,  yet  they  affirmed  they  saw  her 
not.” 

Bly  and  his  wife  Rebecca  had  a  difficulty  with  Bishop 
in  reference  to  payment  for  a  hog  they  had  bought  of 
her.  The  following  is  from  their  testimony  at  her  trial. 
After  stating  that  she  came  to  their  house  and  quar¬ 
relled  with  them  about  it,  they  go  on  to  say  that  the 
animal  — 

“  was  taken  with  strange  fits,  jumping  up,  and  knocking  her 
head  against  the  fence,  and  seemed  blind  and  deaf,  and  would 
not  eat,  neither  let  her  pigs  suck,  but  foamed  at  the  mouth  ; 
which  Goody  Henderson,  hearing  of,  said  she  believed  she 
was  overlooked,  and  that  they  had  their  cattle  ill  in  such  a 
manner  at  the  Eastward,  when  they  lived  there,  and  used  to 
cure  them  by  giving  of  them  red  ochre  and  milk,  which  we 
also  gave  the  sow.  Quickly  after  eating  of  which,  she  grew 
better ;  and  then,  for  the  space  of  near  two  hours  together, 
she,  getting  into  the  street,  did  set  off,  jumping  and  running 
between  the  house  of  said  deponents  aud  said  Bishop’s,  as  if 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


263 


she  were  stark  mad,  and,  after  that,  was  well  again :  and 
we  did  then  apprehend  or  judge,  and  do  still,  that  said 
Bishop  had  bewitched  said  sow.” 

William  Stacey  testified,  that,  as  he  was  “  agoing  to 
mill,”  meeting  Bishop  in  the  street,  some  conversation 
passed  between  them,  and  that, — 

“  being  gone  about  six  rods  from  her,  the  said  Bishop,  with 
a  small  load  in  his  cart,  suddenly  the  off-wheel  slumped  or 
sunk  down  into  a  hole  upon  plain  ground  ;  that  this  deponent 
was  forced  to  get  one  to  help  him  get  the  wheel  out.  After¬ 
wards,  this  deponent  went  back  to  look  for  said  hole  where 
his  wheel  sunk  in,  but  could  not  find  any  hole.” 

Stacey  further  deposed,  that,  on  another  occasion, 
he  — 

“  met  the  said  Bishop  by  Isaac  Stearns’s  brick-kiln.  After 
he  had  passed  by  her,  this  deponent’s  horse  stood  still  with 
a  small  load  going  up  the  hill ;  so  that,  the  horse  striving  to 
draw,  all  his  gears  and  tackling  flew  in  pieces,  and  the  cart 
fell  down.” 

These  mishaps  and  marvels  occurred  in  Summer 
Street,  near  the  foot  of  Chestnut  Street,  wl\ere  the 
ground  was  then  much  lower  than  it  is  now.  Stacey 
was  ascending  the  street,  on  his  way  through  High 
Street  to  his  father’s  mill,  at  the  South  River. 

Stacey  concluded  his  testimony  as  follows :  — 

“  This  deponent  hath  met  with  several  other  of  her 
pranks  at  several  times,  which  would  take  up  a  great  time  to 
tell  of. 

“  This  deponent  doth  verily  believe  that  the  said  Bridget 
Bishop  was  instrumental  to  his  daughter  Priscilla’s  death. 


264 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


About  two  years  ago,  the  child  was  a  likely,  thriving  child  ; 
and  suddenly  screeched  out,  and  so  continued,  in  an  unusual 
manner,  for  about  a  fortnight,  and  so  died  in  that  lamentable 
manner.” 

Many  of  the  extraordinary  “  pranks,”  charged  upon 
Bridget  Bishop,  had  their  scene  near  to  her  dwelling- 
house.  John  Louder,  a  servant  of  John  Gedney,  Sr., 
some  years  before,  had  a  controversy  with  her  about 
her  fowls,  “  that  used  to  come  into  our  orchard  or  gar¬ 
den.”  He  swore  as  follows  :  — 

“  Some  little  time  after  which,  I,  going  well  to  bed,  about 
the  dead  of  the  night,  felt  a  great  weight  upon  my  breast, 
and,  awakening,  looked ;  and,  it  being  bright  moonlight,  did 
clearly  see  said  Bridget  Bishop,  or  her  likeness,  sitting  upon 
my  stomach  ;  and,  putting  my  arms  off  of  the  bed  to  free  my¬ 
self  from  the  great  oppression,  she  presently  laid  hold  of  my 
throat,  and  almost  choked  me,  and  I  had  no  strength  or 
power  in  my  hands  to  resist,  or  help  myself ;  and,  in  this  con¬ 
dition,  she  held  me  to  almost  day.  Some  time  after  this,  my 
mistress  (Susannah  Gedney)  was  in  our  orchard,  and  I  was 
then  with  her ;  and  said  Bridget  Bishop,  being  then  in  her 
orchard,  —  which  was  next  adjoining  to  ours,  —  my  mistress 
told  said  Bridget  that  I  said  or  affirmed  that  she  came,  one 
night,  and  sat  upon  my  breast,  as  aforesaid,  which  she  de¬ 
nied,  and  I  affirmed  to  her  face  to  be  true,  and  that  I  did 
plainly  see  her ;  upon  which  discourse  with  her,  she  threat¬ 
ened  me.  And,  some  time  after  that,  I,  being  not  very  well, 
stayed  at  home  on  a  Lord’s  Day  ;  and,  on  the  afternoon  of  said 
day,  the  doors  being  shut,  I  did  see  a  black  pig  in  the  room 
coming  towards  me  ;  so  I  went  towards  it  to  kick  it,  and  it 
vanished  away.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


265 


Louder  goes  on  to  say,  that,  immediately  after  this, 
on  the  same  occasion  while  he  was  staying  at  home 
from  meeting,  he  saw  a  black  thing  jump  into  the  win¬ 
dow,  and  it  came  and  stood  just  before  his  face  “  upon 
the  bar.”  The  body  of  it  looked  like  a  monkey,  only 
the  feet  were  like  a  cock’s  feet  with  claws,  and  the 
face  somewhat  more  like  a  man’s  than  a  monkey’s, 
lie  says  that  he  was  greatly  affrighted,  “  not  being- 
able  to  speak  or  help  myself  by  reason  of  fear,  I  sup¬ 
pose  ;  ”  and  that  his  mysterious  visitor  made  quite  a 
speech  to  him,  representing  that  it  was  a  messenger 
sent  to  say,  that,  if  he  would  “  be  ruled  by  him,  he 
should  want  for  nothing  in  this  world.”  The  virtuous 
and  indignant  Louder  says  that  he  answered,  “  You 
devil,  I  will  kill  you !  ”  and  gave  it  a  blow  with  his 
fist,  but  “  could  feel  no  substance  ;  and  it  jumped  out 
of  the  window  again.”  It  immediately  came  in  by  the 
porch,  although  the  doors  were  shut,  and  said,  “  You 
had  better  take  my  counsel.”  Hereupon  Louder 
struck  at  it  with  a  stick,  hitting  the  ground-sill  and 
breaking  the  stick,  but  felt  no  substance.  Louder 
concludes  his  testimony  as  follows :  — 

“  The  arm  with  which  I  struck  was  presently  disenabled. 
Then  it  vanished  away,  and  I  opened  the  back-door  and 
went  out  ;  and,  going  towards  the  house-end,  I  espied  said 
Bridget  Bishop  in  her  orchard  goiug  towards  her  house,  and, 
seeing  her,  had  no  power  to  set  one  foot  forward,  but  re¬ 
turned  in  again  :  and,  going  to  shut  the  door,  I  again  did  see 
that  or  the  like  creature,  that  I  before  did  see  within  doors, 
in  such  a  posture  as  it  seemed  to  be  agoing  to  fly  at  me  ; 


266 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


upon  which  I  cried  out,  ‘  The  whole  armor  of  God  he  between 
me  and  you.’  So  it  sprang  back  and  flew  over  the  apple- 
tree,  flinging  the  dirt  with  its  feet  against  my  stomach,  upon 
which  I  was  struck  dumb,  and  so  continued  for  about  three 
days’  time  ;  and  also  shook  many  of  the  apples  off  from  the 
tree  which  it  flew  over.” 

Before  removing  to  liis  farm,  Edward  and  Bridget 
Bishop  made  the  alterations,  before  mentioned,  on  their 
town  estate.  John  Bly,  Sr.,  aged  fifty-seven  years,  and 
William  Bly,  aged  fifteen,  were  employed  in  the  opera¬ 
tion  of  removing  the  cellar  wall  of  “  the  ould  house  ;  ” 
and  testified,  that  they  found  in  holes  and  crevices 
of  said  cellar  wall  “  several  puppets  made  up  of  rags 
and  hogs’  bristles,  with  headless  pins  in  them  with  the 
points  outward.” 

Upon  such  evidence,  Bridget  Bishop  was  condemned, 
and  executed  the  next  week.  The  death-warrants,  in 
these  trials,  were  collected  together  in  one  envelope, 
marked  as  such.  The  envelope  remains,  but  its 
contents  have  all  been  abstracted.  The  death-warrant 
of  Bridget  Bishop  was  probably  overlooked  when  the 
others  were  gathered  together.  The  consequence  is 
that  it  has  been  preserved,  and  is  the  only  one  known 
to  be  in  existence. 

The  sheriff  seems  to  have  proceeded,  immediately 
after  the  execution,  to  the  clerk’s  office,  and  indorsed 
his  return  on  the  warrant.  When  he  wrote  it,  he 
added,  after  the  word  “  dead,”  —  “  and  buried  her  on 
the  spot.”  On  its  occurring  to  him  that  the  burying  of 
the  body  was  not  mentioned  in  the  warrant,  he  drew 


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WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


267 


liis  pen  through  the  words ;  as  is  seen  in  the  photo¬ 
graph.  This  superfluous  clause,  thus  partially  oblit¬ 
erated,  is  the  only  positive  evidence  we  have  of  the 
disposal  of  the  bodies  at  the  time.  They  were  un¬ 
doubtedly  all  thrown  into  pits  dug  among  the  rocks,  on 
the  spot,  and  hastily  covered  by  the  officers  having  in 
charge  the  details  of  the  executions.  There  were  no 
prayers  over  their  graves,  except  those  uttered  by  them¬ 
selves  in  their  last  moments. 

The  descendants  of  Bridget  Bishop  are  very  numer¬ 
ous  in  Salem ;  embracing  some  of  our  oldest  and  most 
respectable  families,  and  branching  widely  from  them. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  issue  by  her  first  marriage. 
Thomas  Oliver,  her  second  husband,  had  daughters  by 
a  former  wife,  who  were  represented  in  the  next  gen¬ 
eration  under  the  names  of  Hilliard,  Hooper,  and 
Jones.  By  his  wife  Bridget,  he  had  but  one  child,  —  a 
daughter,  Christian,  born  May  8,  1667.  She  married 
Thomas  Mason,  and  died  in  1698 ;  leaving  an  only  child, 
Susannah,  born  August  23,  1687.  Edward  Bishop 
was  her  guardian.  She  married  John  Becket  in  1711, 
and  by  him  had  a  son,  John,  and  six  daughters,  as 
follows :  Susannah,  married  to  David  Felt,  Elizabeth 
to  William  Peele,  Sarah  to  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  Eebecca 
to  William  Fairfield,  Eunice  to  Thorndike  Deland,  and 
Hannah  to  William  Cloutman. 

After  the  condemnation  of  Bridget  Bishop,  the  Court 
took  a  recess,  and  consulted  the  ministers  of  Boston 
and  the  neighborhood  respecting  the  prosecutions. 
The  response  of  the  reverend  gentlemen,  while  urging, 


268 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


in  general  terms,  the  importance  of  caution  and  cir¬ 
cumspection  in  the  methods  of  examination,  decidedly 
and  earnestly  recommended  that  the  proceedings  should 
he  vigorously  carried  on ;  and  they  were,  indeed,  vig¬ 
orously  carried  on. 

Hutchinson  says,  that,  “  at  the  first  trial,  there  was 
no  colony  or  provincial  law  against  witchcraft  in  force. 
The  statute  of  Janies  the  First  must  therefore  have 
been  considered  as  in  force  in  the  province,  witchcraft 
not  being  an  offence  at  common  law.  Before  the  ad¬ 
journment,  the  old  colony  law,  which  makes  witch¬ 
craft  a  capital  offence,  was  revived  with  the  other  local 
laws,  as  they  were  called,  and  made  a  law  of  the  prov¬ 
ince.”  The  General  Court,  which  thus  revived  the 
law  making  witchcraft  a  capital  offence,  met,  June  8, 
two  days  before  the  execution  of  Bridget  Bishop.  The 
proceedings  that  took  place  at  Salem  were  thus  as¬ 
sumed  as  a  provincial  matter,  for  which  the  immediate 
locality  was  not  responsible,  but  the  legislature,  clergy, 
and  people  of  the  country  at  large. 

The  Court  met  again  on  Wednesday,  the  29tli  of 
June  ;  and,  after  trial,  sentenced  to  death  Sarah  Good, 
Sarah  Wildes,  Elizabeth  How,  Susanna  Martin,  and 
Rebecca  Nurse,  who  were  all  executed  on  the  19th  of 
July. 

Calef  says,  that,  at  the  trial  of  Sarah  Good,  — 

“  One  of  the  afflicted  fell  in  a  fit ;  and,  after  coming  out  of 
it,  cried  out  of  the  prisoner  for  stabbing  her  in  the  breast 
with  a  knife,  and  that  she  had  broken  the  knife  in  stabbing 
of  her.  Accordingly,  a  piece  of  the  blade  of  a  knife  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


269 


found  about  her.  Immediately,  information  being  given  to 
the  Court,  a  young  man  was  called,  who  produced  a  haft  and 
part  of  the  blade,  which  the  Court,  having  viewed  and  com¬ 
pared,  saw  it  to  be  the  same  ;  and,  upon  inquiry,  the  young 
man  affirmed  that  yesterday  he  happened  to  break  that  knife, 
and  that  he  cast  away  the  upper  part, — this  afflicted  person 
being  then  present.  The  young  man  was  dismissed  and  she 
was  bidden  by  the  Court  not  to  tell  lies  ;  and  was  improved 
after  (as  she  had  been  before)  to  give  evidence  against  the 
prisoners.” 

Hutchinson,  in  relating  this  circumstance,  refers  to 
a  case  tried  before  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  when  a  similar 
kind  of  falsehood  was  proved  against  an  “  afflicted  ” 
witness  ;  notwithstanding  which  he  says  the  person 
on  trial  was  found  guilty,  “  and  the  judge  and  all  the 
court  were  fully  satisfied  with  the  verdict.” 

Sarah  Good  appears  to  have  been  an  unfortunate 
woman,  having  been  subject  to  poverty,  and  conse¬ 
quent  sadness  and  melancholy.  But  she  was  not 
wholly  broken  in  spirit.  ‘  Mr.  Noyes,  at  the  time  of 
her  execution,  urged  her  very  strenuously  to  confess. 
Among  other  things,  he  told  her  “  she  was  a  witch, 
and  that  she  knew  she  was  a  witch.”  She  was  con¬ 
scious  of  her  innocence,  and  felt  that  she  was  op¬ 
pressed,  outraged,  trampled  upon,  and  about  to  be 
murdered,  under  the  forms  of  law  ;  and  her  indignation 
was  roused  against  her  persecutors.  She  could  not 
bear  in  silence  the  cruel  aspersion ;  and,  although  she 
was  just  about  to  be  launched  into  eternity,  the  torrent 
of  her  feelings  could  not  be  restrained,  but  burst  upon 


270 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


the  head  of  him  who  uttered  the  false  accusation. 
“  You  are  a  liar,”  said  she.  “  I  am  no  more  a  witch 
than  you  are  a  wizard ;  and,  if  you  take  away  my 
life,  God  will  give  you  blood  to  drink.”  Hutchinson 
says  that,  in  his  day,  there  was  a  tradition  among  the 
people  of  Salem,  and  it  has  descended  to  the  present 
time,  that  the  manner  of  Mr.  Noyes’s  death  strangely 
verified  the  prediction  thus  wrung  from  the  incensed 
spirit  of  the  dying  woman.  He  was  exceedingly  cor¬ 
pulent,  of  a  plethoric  habit,  and  died  of  an  internal 
hemorrhage,  bleeding  profusely  at  the  mouth. 

We  have  no  information  relating  to  the  execution  of 
Elizabeth  How.  Her  gentle,  patient,  humble,  benig¬ 
nant,  devout,  and  tender  heart  bore  her,  no  doubt,  with 
a  spirit  of  saint-like  love  and  faith,  through  the  dread¬ 
ful  scenes.  We  cannot  doubt,  that,  in  death  as  in  life, 
she  forgave,  prayed  for,  and  invoked  blessing  upon  her 
persecutors.  Neither  has  any  thing  come  down  in  ref¬ 
erence  to  the  deportment  of  Sarah  Wildes  or  Susanna 
Martin.  We  may  take  it  for  granted,  that  the  former 
was  a  patient  and  humble,  but  firm  and  faithful  suf¬ 
ferer  ;  and  that  the  latter  displayed  the  great  energy 
of  spirit,  and  probably  the  strength  of  language,  for 
which  she  was  remarkable.  Of  the  case  of  Rebecca 
Nurse  we  have  more  information. 

The  character,  age,  and  position  of  this  venerable 
matron  created  an  impression,  which  called,  to  the 
utmost,  all  the  arts  and  efforts  of  the  prosecution  to 
counteract.  Many  who  had  gone  fully  and  earnestly 
in  support  of  the  proceedings  against  others  paused 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


271 


and  hesitated  in  reference  to  her ;  and  large  numbers 
who  had  been  overawed  into  silence  before,  bravely 
came  forward  in  her  defence.  The  character  of 
Nathaniel  Putnam  has  been  described.  He  was  a  man 
of  extraordinary  strength  and  acuteness  of  mind,  and 
in  all  his  previous  life  had  been  proof  against  popular 
excitement.  The  death  of  his  brother  Thomas,  seven 
years  before,  had  left  him  the  head  and  patriarch  of 
his  great  family :  as  such,  he  was  known  as  “  Land¬ 
lord  Putnam.”  Entire  confidence  was  felt  by  all  in  his 
judgment,  and  deservedly.  But  he  was  a  strong 
religionist,  a  life-long  member  of  the  Church,  and  ex¬ 
tremely  strenuous  and  zealous  in  his  ecclesiastical 
relations.  He  was  getting  to  be  an  old  man ;  and  Mr. 
Parris  had  wholly  succeeded  in  obtaining,  for  the  time, 
possession  of  his  feelings,  sympathy,  and  zeal  in  the 
management  of  the  Church,  and  secured  his  full  co¬ 
operation  in  the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  He  had  been 
led  by  Parris  to  take  the  very  front  in  the  proceedings. 
But  even  Nathaniel  Putnam  could  not  stand  by  in 
silence,  and  see  Bebecca  Nurse  sacrificed.  A  curious 
paper,  written  by  him,  is  among  those  which  have  been 
preserved :  — 

“Nathaniel  Putnam,  Sr.,  being  desired  by  Francis 
Nurse,  Sr.,  to  give  information  of  what  I  could  say  concern¬ 
ing  his  wife’s  life  and  conversation,  I,  the  abovesaid,  have 
known  this  said  aforesaid  woman  forty  years,  and  what  I 
have  observed  of  her,  human  frailties  excepted,  her  life  and 
conversation  have  been  according  to  her  profession  ;  and  she 
hath  brought  up  a  great  family  of  children  and  educated 


272 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


them  well,  so  that  there  is  in  some  of  them  apparent  savor  of 
godliness.  I  have  known  her  differ  with  her  neighbors;  but 
I  never  knew  or  heard  of  any  that  did  accuse  her  of  what 
she  is  now  charged  with.” 

A  similar  paper  was  signed  by  thirty-nine  other  per¬ 
sons  of  the  village  and  the  immediate  vicinity,  all  of 
the  highest  respectability.  The  men  and  women  who 
dared  to  do  this  act  of  justice  must  not  be  forgotten:  — 

“  We  whose  names  are  hereunto  subscribed,  being  desired 
by  Goodman  Nurse  to  declare  what  we  know  concerning  his 
wife’s  conversation  for  time  past,  —  we  can  testify,  to  all 
whom  it  may  concern,  that  we  have  known  her  for  many 
years ;  and,  according  to  our  observation,  her  life  and  conver¬ 
sation  were  according  to  her  profession,  and  we  never  had 
any  cause  or  grounds  to  suspect  her  of  any  such  thing  as  she 
is  now  accused  of. 


Israel  Porter. 

Samuel  Abbey'. 

Elizabeth  Porter. 

Hepzibaii  Rea. 

Edward  Bishop,  Sr. 

Daniel  Andreyv. 

Hannah  Bishop. 

Sarah  Andrew. 

Joshua  Pea. 

Daniel  Rea. 

Sarah  Rea. 

Sarah  Putnam. 

Sarah  Leach. 

Jonathan  Putnam. 

John  Putnam. 

Ly  dia  Putnam. 

Rebecca  Putnam. 

Walter  Phillips,  Sr. 

Joseph  Hutchinson,  Sr. 

Nathaniel  Eelton,  Sr. 

Lydia  Hutchinson. 

Margaret  Phillips. 

William  Oseurn. 

Tabitha  Phillips. 

Hannah  Osburn. 

Joseph  IIoulton,  Jr. 

Joseph  Holton,  Sr. 

Samuel  Endicott. 

Sarah  Holton. 

Elizabeth  Buxton. 

Benjamin  Putnam. 

Samuel  Aborn,  Sr. 

Sarah  Putnam. 

Isaac  Cook. 

Job  Swinnerton. 

Elizabeth  Cook. 

Esther  Swinnerton. 
Joseph  Herrick,  Sr. 

Joseph  Putnam.” 

WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


2T3 


Ail  examination  of  the  foregoing  names  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  history  of  the  Village  will  show  conclusive 
proof,  that,  if  the  matter  had  been  left  to  the  people 
there,  it  would  never  have  reached  the  point  to  which 
it  was  carried.  It  was  the  influence  of  the  magistracy 
and  the  government  of  the  colony,  and  the  public 
sentiment  prevalent  elsewhere,  overruling  that  of  the 
immediate  locality,  that  drove  on  the  storm. 

Israel  Porter  was  the  head  of  a  great  and  powerful 
family.  His  wife  Elizabeth  was,  as  has  been  stated,  a 
sister  of  Hathorne,  the  examining  magistrate.  Edward 
and  Hannah  Bishop  were  the  venerable  heads  and 
founders  of  a  large  family.  They  lived  in  Beverly,  and 
must  each  have  been  about  ninety  years  of  age.  The 
list  contains  the  names  of  the  heads  of  the  principal 
families  in  the  village,  —  such  as  John  and  Bebecca 
Putnam,  the  Hutchinsons,  Reas,  Leaches,  Iloultons, 
and  Herricks ;  and,  in  the  neighborhood,  such  as  the 
Feltons,  Osbornes,  and  Samuel  Endicott.  The  most 
remarkable  fact  it  discloses  is  that  it  contains  the  name 
of  one  of  the  two  complainants  who  procured  the 
warrant  against  Rebecca  Nurse,  —  Jonathan  Putnam, 
the  eldest  son  of  John ;  and  also  of  his  wife  Lydia. 
Siibsecpient  reflection,  and  the  return  of  his  better 
judgment,  satisfied  him  that  he  had  done  a  great  wrong 
to  an  innocent  and  worthy  person  ;  and  he  had  the  man¬ 
liness  to  come  out  in  her  favor.  This  document  ought 
to  have  been  effectual  in  saving  the  life  of  Rebecca 
Nurse.  It  will  for  ever  vindicate  her  character,  and  re¬ 
flect  honor  upon  each  and  every  name  subscribed  to  it. 

18 


VOL.  II. 


274 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


One  of  the  most  cruel  features  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  witchcraft  trials,  and  which  was  practised  in  all 
countries  where  they  took  place,  was  the  examination 
of  the  bodies  of  the  prisoners  by  a  jury  of  the  same 
sex,  under  the  direction  and  in  the  presence  of  a  sur¬ 
geon  or  physician.  The  person  was  wholly  exposed, 
and  every  part  subjected  to  the  most  searching  scrutiny. 
The  process  was  always  an  outrage  upon  human  na¬ 
ture  ;  and  in  the  cases  of  the  victims  on  this  occasion, 
many  of  them  of  venerable  years  and  delicate  feelings, 
it  was  shocking  to  every  natural  and  instinctive  senti¬ 
ment.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  it  was  often  con¬ 
ducted  in  a  rough,  coarse,  and  brutal  manner.  Marshal 
Herrick  testifies,  that,  “  by  order  of  Their  Majesties’ 
justices,”  he,  accompanied  by  the  jail-keeper  Dounton, 
and  Constable  Joseph  Neal,  made  an  examination  of 
the  body  of  George  Jacobs.  In  persons  of  his  great 
age,  there  would,  in  all  likelihood,  be  shrivelled,  desic¬ 
cated,  and  callous  places.  They  found  one  on  the  old 
man,  under  his  right  shoulder.  Herrick  made  oath 
that  it  was  a  veritable  witch  teat,  and  his  deposition 
describes  it  as  follows :  “  About  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
long  or  better,  with  a  sharp  point  drooping  downwards, 
so  that  I  took  a  pin,  and  run  it  through  the  said  teat ; 
but  there  was  neither  water,  blood,  or  corruption,  nor 
any  other  matter.”  As  proof  positive  that  this  was 
“  the  Devil’s  mark,”  Herrick  and  the  turnkey  testify 
that  “  the  said  Jacobs  was  not  in  the  least  sensible  of 
what  had  been  done  ”  ! 

The  mind  loathes  the  thought  of  handling  in  this 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


275 


way  refined  and  sensitive  females  of  matronly  char¬ 
acter,  or  persons  of  either  sex,  with  infirmities  of 
body  rendered  sacred  by  years.  The  results  of  the  ex¬ 
amination  were  reduced  to  written  reports,  going  into 
details,  and,  among  other  evidences  in  the  trials, 
spread  before  the  Court  and  jury.* 

The  evidence  in  the  case  of  Rebecca  Nurse  was 
made  up  of  the  usual  representations  and  actings  of 
the  “  afflicted  children.”  Mary  Walcot  and  Abigail 
Williams  charged  her  with  having  committed  several 
murders  ;  mentioning  particularly  Benjamin  Houlton, 
John  Harwood,  and  Rebecca  Shepard,  and  averring  that 
she  was  aided  therein  by  her  sister  Cloyse.  Mr.  Parris, 
too,  gave  in  a  deposition  against  her  ;  from  which  it  ap- 

*  A  few  days  before  her  trial,  Rebecca  Nurse  was  subjected  to  this 
inspection  and  exploration  ;  and  the  jury  of  women  found  the  witch- 
mark  upon  her.  On  the  28th  of  June,  two  days  before  the  meeting  of 
the  Court,  she  addressed  to  that  body  the  following  communication  :  — 

“  To  the  Honored  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer ,  now  sitting  in  Salem ,  this  28 th 

of  June ,  Anno  1692. 

“  The  humble  petition  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  of  Salem  Village,  humbly 
showeth:  That  whereas  some  women  did  search  your  petitioner  at  Salem, 
as  I  did  then  conceive  for  some  supernatural  mark;  and  then  one  of  the 
said  women,  which  is  known  to  be  the  most  ancient,  skilful,  prudent  person 
of  them  all  as  to  any  such  concern,  did  express  herself  to  be  of  a  contrary 
opinion  from  the  rest,  and  did  then  declare  that  she  saw  nothing  in  or  about 
A'our  Honor’s  poor  petitioner  but  what  might  arise  from  a  natural  cause,  —  I 
there  rendered  the  said  persons  a  sufficient  known  reason  as  to  myself  of  the 
moving  cause  thereof,  which  was  by  exceeding  weaknesses,  descending  partly 
from  an  overture  of  nature,  and  difficult  exigencies  that  hath  befallen  me  in 
the  times  of  my  travails.  And  therefore  your  petitioner  humbly  prays 
that  Your  Honors  would  be  pleased  to  admit  of  some  other  women  to  in¬ 
quire  into  this  great  concern,  those  that  are  most  grave,  wise,  and  skilful; 
namely,  Mrs.  Iligginson,  Sr.,  Mrs.  Buxton,  Mrs.  Woodbury, —two  of  them 


276 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


pears,  that,  a  certain  person  being  sick,  Mercy  Lewis 
was  sent  for.  She  was  struck  dumb  on  entering 
the  chamber.  She  was  asked  to  hold  up  her  hand,  if 
she  saw  any  of  the  witches  afflicting  the  patient. 
Presently  she  held  up  her  hand,  then  fell  into  a 
trance ;  and  after  a  while,  coming  to  herself,  said 
that  she  saw  the  spectres  of  Goody  Nurse  and  Goody 
Carrier  having  hold  of  the  head  of  the  sick  man.  Mr. 
Parris  swore  to  this  statement  with  the  utmost  com 
fidence  in  Mercy’s  declarations. 

The  testimony  of  three  persons  particularly  is  re¬ 
quired  to  be  given,  as  illustrating  the  extraordinary 
extent  to  which  the  minds  of  those  involved  in  the 
affair  were  under  infatuation  or  hallucination. 

Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  was  about  thirty  years  of  age. 
For  six  months  she  had  been  constantly  absorbed  in 
what  was  then,  as  now,  regarded  as  spiritualism.  Her 


being  midwives,  Mrs.  Porter,  together  with  such  others  as  may  be  chosen 
on  that  account,  before  I  am  brought  to  my  trial.  All  which  I  hope  your 
honors  will  take  into  your  prudent  consideration,  and  find  it  requisite  so  to 
do;  for  my  life  lies  now  in  your  hands,  under  God.  And,  being  conscious  of 
my  own  innocency,  I  humbly  beg  that  I  may  have  liberty  to  manifest  it  to 
the  world  partly  by  the  means  abovesaid. 

“  And  your  poor  petitioner  shall  evermore  pray,  as  in  duty  bound,  &c.” 

Her  daughters  —  Rebecca,  wife  of  Thomas  Preston  ;  and  Mary,  wife 
of  John  Tarbell  —  presented  the  following  statement:  — 

“  We  whose  names  are  underwritten  —  can  testify,  if  called  to  it,  that 
Goody  Nurse  hath  been  troubled  with  an  infirmity  of  body  for  many  years, 
which  the  jury  of  women  seem  to  be  afraid  it  should  be  something  else.” 

There  is  no  intimation,  in  any  of  the  papers,  that  the  petition  of  the 
mother  or  the  deposition  of  her  daughters  received  the  least  attention 
from  the  Couit. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


277 


house  had  been  the  scene  of  a  perpetual  series  of 
wonders  supposed  to  he  disclosures  and  manifesta¬ 
tions  of  a  supernatural  character.  Apparitions,  spec¬ 
tral  shapes  of  living  witches,  ghosts  of  their  murdered 
victims,  and  demons  generally,  were  of  daily  and  hourly 
occurrence.  The  dread  secrets  of  the  world  unknown 
had  been  revealed  to  her  in  waking  fancies  and  dreams 
by  night.  An  originally  sensitive  and  imaginative 
nature  had  been  wrought  into  a  condition  in  which 
her  mental  faculties  were  at  once  enfeebled  and  ex¬ 
alted.  Besides  all  this,  there  were  the  trials  to 
which  her  constitution  had  been  subjected  by  the 
experiences  of  maternity  so  early  begun,  and  the  pres¬ 
sure  upon  her  mind  and  heart  of  the  anxieties  and 
cares  incident  to  a  large  family  of  young  children. 
An  accumulation  of  disappointments,  vexations,  and 
consuming  griefs,  spread  like  a  dark  cloud  over  her 
life,  —  the  deaths  of  her  own  children,  and  of  her  sister 
Bayley  and  her  children,  and  of  her  sister  Baker’s  chil¬ 
dren  ;  and,  finally,  the  long-continued,  and  constantly 
recurring  sufferings,  tortures,  convulsions,  fits,  and 
trances  of  her  daughter  Ann,  and  her  servant-woman 
Mercy  Lewis,  under,  as  she  fully  believed,  a  diabolical 
hand.  —  These  things  must  have  given  to  her  conn- 
tenanco  and  tones  of  voice  a  wonderful  impressive¬ 
ness  to  all  who  looked  upon  or  listened  to  them.  Hei 
eminent  social  position,  her  general  reputation,  —  for 
Lawson,  who  knew  her  well,  calls  her  “  a  very  sober 
and  pious  woman,”  so  far  as  he  could  judge,  —  the 
stamp  of  profound  earnestness  marked  on  all  her 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


language,  the  glow  which  morbid  excitement  long  ex¬ 
perienced  gave  to  her  expression,  must  have  arrested, 
to  a  high  degree,  the  attention  of  the  assembled  mul¬ 
titude.  An  air  of  sadness,  in  the  wild  ravings  of 
imagination,  pervades  her  testimony.  I  present  her 
deposition  in  full,  as  one  of  the  phenomena  of  this 
strange  transaction :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Ann  Putnam,  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Putnam,  aged  about  thirty  years,  who  testifieth  and  saith, 
that,  on  the  18th  March,  1692,  I  being  wearied  out  in  help¬ 
ing  to  tend  my  poor  afflicted  child  and  maid,  about  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon  I  lay  me  down  on  the  bed  to  take 
a  little  rest ;  and  immediately  I  was  almost  pressed  and 
choked  to  death,  that,  had  it  not  been  for  the  mercy  of 
a  gracious  God  and  the  help  of  those  that  were  with  me, 
I  could  not  have  lived  many  moments  :  and  presently  I  saw 
the  apparition  of  Martha  Corey,  who  did  torture  me  so  as 
I  cannot  express,  ready  to  tear  me  all  to  pieces,  and  then 
departed  from  me  a  little  while  ;  but,  before  I  could  recover 
strength  or  well  take  breath,  the  apparition  of  Martha 
Corey  fell  upon  me  again  with  dreadful  tortures,  and  hellish 
temptation  to  go  along  with  her.  Aud  she  also  brought  to 
me  a  little  red  book  in  her  hand  and  a  black  pen,  urging  me 
vehemently  to  write  in  her  book ;  and  several  times  that 
day  she  did  most  grievously  torture  me,  almost  ready  to  kill 
me.  And,  on  the  19th  March,  Martha  Corey  again  appeared 
to  me  ;  and  also  Rebecca  Nurse,  the  wife  of  Francis  Nurse, 
Sr. :  and  they  both  did  torture  me  a  great  many  times  this 
day  with  such  tortures  as  no  tongue  can  express,  because 
I  would  not  yield  to  their  hellish  temptations,  that,  had  I 
not  been  upheld  by  an  Almighty  arm,  I  could  not  have  lived 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


279 


while  night.  The  20th  March,  being  sabbath-day,  I  had 
a  great  deal  of  respite  between  my  fits.  21st  March,  being 
the  day  of  the  examination  of  Martha  Corey,  I  had  not 
many  fits,  though  I  was  very  weak ;  my  strength  being, 
as  I  thought,  almost  gone:  but,  on  the  22d  March,  1G92, 
the  apparition  of  Rebecca  Nurse  did  again  set  upon  me  in 
a  most  dreadful  manner,  very  early  in  the  morning,  as  soon 
as  it  was  well  light.  And  now  she  appeared  to  me  only  in 
her  shift,  and  brought  a  little  red  book  in  her  hand,  urging 
me  vehemently  to  write  in  her  book ;  and,  because  I  would 
not  yield  to  her  hellish  temptations,  she  threatened  to  tear 
my  soul  out  of  my  body,  blasphemously  denying  the  blessed 
God,  and  the  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  save  my  soul ; 
and  denying  several  places  of  Scripture  which  I  told  her  of, 
to  repel  her  hellish  temptations.  And  for  near  two  hours 
together,  at  this  time,  the  apparition  of  Rebecca  Nurse  did 
tempt  and  torture  me,  and  also  the  greater  part  of  this 
day,  with  but  very  little  respite.  23d  March,  am  again 
afflicted  by  the  apparitions  of  Rebecca  Nurse  and  Martha 
Corey,  but  chiefly  by  Rebecca  Nurse.  24th  March,  being  the 
day  of  the  examination  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  I  was  several 
times  afflicted  in  the  morning  by  the  apparition  of  Rebecca 
Nurse,  but  most  dreadfully  tortured  by  her  in  the  time  of 
her  examination,  insomuch  that  the  honored  magistrates 
gave  my  husband  leave  to  carry  me  out  of  the  meeting¬ 
house  ;  and,  as  soon  as  I  was  carried  out  of  the  meeting¬ 
house  doors,  it  pleased  Almighty  God,  for  his  free  grace  and 
mercy’s  sake,  to  deliver  me  out  of  the  paws  of  those  roaring 
lions,  and  jaws  of  those  tearing  bears,  that,  ever  since  that 
time,  they  have  not  had  power  so  to  afflict  me  until  this 
31st  May,  1G92.  At  the  same  moment  that  I  was  hearing 
my  evidence  read  by  the  honored  magistrates,  to  take  my 


280 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


oath,  I  was  again  re-assaulted  and  tortured  by  my  before- 
mentioned  tormentor,  Rebecca  Nurse.” 

“  The  Testimony  of  Ann  Putnam,  Jr.,  witnesseth  and 
saith,  that,  being  in  the  room  when  her  mother  was  afflicted, 
she  saw  Martha  Corey,  Sarah  Cloyse,  and  Rebecca  Nurse, 
or  their  apparition,  upon  her  mother.” 

Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  made  another  deposition  under 
oath,  at  the  same  trial,  which  shows  that  she  was 
determined  to  overwhelm  the  prisoner  by  the  multi¬ 
tude  of  her  charges.  She  says  that  Rebecca  Nurse’s 
apparition  declared  to  her  that  “  she  had  killed  Benja¬ 
min  Houlton,  John  Fuller,  and  Rebecca  Shepard ;  ” 
and  that  she  and  her  sister  Cloyse,  and  Edward  Bish¬ 
op’s  wife,  had  killed  young  John  Putnam’s  child  ;  and 
she  further  deposed  as  followeth  :  — 

“  Immediately  there  did  appear  to  me  six  children  in 
winding-sheets,  which  called  me  aunt,  which  did  most 
grievously  affright  me  ;  and  they  told  me  that  they  were  my 
sister  Baker’s  children  of  Boston;  and  that  Goody  Nurse, 
and  Mistress  Carey  of  Charlestown,  and  an  old  deaf  woman 
at  Boston,  had  murdered  them,  and  charged  me  to  go  and 
tell  these  things  to  the  magistrates,  or  else  they  would  tear 
me  to  pieces,  for  their  blood  did  cry  for  vengeance.  Also 
there  appeared  to  me  my  own  sister  Bayley  and  three  of 
her  children  in  winding-sheets,  and  told  me  that  Goody 
Nurse  had  murdered  them.” 

There  is  in  this  deposition  a  passage  which  illus¬ 
trates  one  of  the  doctrines  held  at  the  time  on  the 
subject  of  witchcraft.  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  “  testifieth 
and  saith,  that,  on  the  first  day  of  June,  1692,  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


281 


apparition  of  Rebecca  Nurse  did  again  fall  upon  me, 
and  almost  choke  me  ;  and  slie  told  me,  that,  now  she 
was  come  out  of  prison,  she  had  power  to  afflict  me, 
and  that  now  she  would  afflict  me  all  this  day  long.” 
The  reference  here  is  probably  to  the  fact,  that,  on  the 
1st  of  June,  she  with  many  other  prisoners  was  trans¬ 
ferred  from  the  jail  in  Boston  to  that  in  Salem ;  and 
that,  “all  that  day  long”  being  outside  of  prison 
walls,  she  had  greater  power  to  afflict  than  when 
chained  in  a  cell.  This  was  undoubtedly  the  received 
opinion,  and  it  is  curiously  illustrated  in  the  fore¬ 
going  passage. 

The  only  breath  of  disparagement  against  the  char¬ 
acter  of  Goodwife  Nurse  that  can  be  found  in  any 
of  the  papers  is  in  the  following  deposition :  — 

“  Tiie  Deposition  of  Sarah  IIoulton,  relict  of  Ben¬ 
jamin  Iloulton,  deceased,  who  testifieth  and  saith,  that,  about 
this  time  three  years,  my  dear  and  loving  husband,  Benjamin 
Iloulton,  deceased,  was  as  well  as  ever  I  knew  him  in  my 
life  till  one  Saturday  morning,  that  Rebecca  Nurse,  who 
now  stands  charged  for  witchcraft,  came  to  our  house,  and 
fell  a  railing  at  him  because  our  pigs  got  into  her  field. 
Though  our  pigs  were  sufficiently  yoked,  and  their  fence  was 
down  in  several  places,  yet  all  we  could  say  to  her  could 
no  ways  pacify  her ;  but  she  continued  railing  and  scolding 
a  great  while  together,  calling  to  her  son  Beuj.  Nurse  to  go 
and  get  a  gun  and  kill  our  pigs,  and  let  none  of  them  go  out 
of  the  field,  though  my  poor  husband  gave  her  never  a 
misbeholding  word.  And,  within  a  short  time  after  this,  my 
poor  husband  going  out  very  early  in  the  morning,  as  he 


282 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


was  coming  in  again,  lie  was  taken  with  a  strange  fit  in  the 
entry ;  being  struck  blind  and  stricken  down  two  or  three 
times,  so  that,  when  he  came  to  himself,  he  told  me  he 
thought  he  should  never  have  come  into  the  house  any  more. 
And,  all  summer  after,  he  continued  in  a  languishing  con¬ 
dition,  being  much  pained  at  his  stomach,  and  often  struck 
blind :  but,  about  a  fortnight  before  he  died,  he  was  taken 
with  strange  and  violent  fits,  acting  much  like  to  our  poor 
bewitched  persons  when  we  thought  they  would  have  died  ; 
and  the  doctor  that  was  with  him  could  not  find  what  his 
distemper  was.  And,  the  day  before  he  died,  he  was  very 
cheerly  ;  but,  about  midnight,  he  was  again  most  violently 
seized  upon  with  violent  fits,  till  the  next  night,  about  mid¬ 
night,  he  departed  this  life  by  a  cruel  death. 

“  Jurat  in  Curia.’' 

t 

Ill  explanation  of  the  import  of  this  testimony,  it  is 
to  he  observed,  that  the  estate  of  Benjamin  Houlton 
was  contiguous  to  that  of  Francis  Nurse.  They  were 
separated  by  a  fence,  which,  as  in  such  cases,  was  re¬ 
quired  for  half  its  length  to  be  kept  in  order  by  one 
party,  the  remaining  half  by  the  other.  What  the 
exact  facts  were  cannot  be  ascertained,  as  we  have 
the  story  of  one  side  only.  The  widow  Houlton  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  a  tender-hearted,  and,  for  aught  we 
know,  good  woman.  Some  years  afterwards,  she  was 
married,  as  his  second  wife,  to  Benjamin  Putnam,  —  a 
very  respectable  person,  and,  on  the  death  of  his  father 
Nathaniel,  the  head  of  that  branch  of  the  family.  He 
was,  for  many  years,  deacon  of  the  church.  But  she 
was,  it  must  be  conceded,  a  prejudiced  witness ;  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


283 


her  judgment  for  the  time  was  wholly  beclouded  by 
the  prevalent  superstitions.  The  garden  had  been, 
from  the  days  of  Townsend  Bishop,  a  choice  portion 
of  the  Nurse  estate.  In  all  farms,  it  was  a  most  im¬ 
portant  and  valuable  item  ;  and  was  generally  under 
the  special  care  and  management  of  the  wife,  daugh¬ 
ters,  and  younger  lads  of  the  husbandman.  Rebecca 
Nurse  was  an  efficient  helpmeet;  contributing  her 
whole  share  to  the  success  of  the  great  enterprise  of 
clearing  the  estate,  as  well  as  in  bringing  up  and. 
educating  a  large  family.  It  was,  no  doubt,  very  pro¬ 
voking  to  her,  as  it  would  be  to  any  one,  to  have 
vegetable  and  flower  beds  devastated  by  the  ravages  of 
a  neighbor’s  stray  pigs.  To  what  extent  her  “  railing 
and  scolding”  went,  she  was  not  allowed  to  contribute 
her  statement,  to  enable  us  to  judge.  The  affair 
probably  produced  considerable  gossip,  and  seems  to 
be  alluded  to  in  Nathaniel  Putnam’s  certificate  in  be¬ 
half  of  Rebecca  Nurse.  There  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  widow  Houlton  was  one  of  the  first  to  realize 
what  great  injustice  had  been  done  by  her  and  others 
to  the  good  name  of  Rebecca  Nurse. 

Notwithstanding  this  evidence,  so  deeply  were  the 
jury  impressed  with  the  eminent  virtue  and  true 
Christian  excellence  of  this  venerable  woman,  that,  in 
spite  of  the  clamors  of  the  outside  crowd,  the  monstrous 
statements  of  accusing  witnesses,  and  the  strong  lean¬ 
ing  of  the  Court  against  her,  the  jury  brought  in  a 
verdict  of  “  Not  guilty.”  Calef,  and  Hutchinson  after 
him,  describe  the  effect,  and  what  followed  :  — 


284 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Immediately,  all  the  accusers  iu  the  Court,  and,  suddenly 
after,  all  the  afflicted  out  of  Court,  made  an  hideous  outcry ; 
to  the  amazement,  not  only  of  the  spectators,  hut  the  Court 
also  seemed  strangely  surprised.  One  of  the  judges  ex¬ 
pressed  himself  not  satisfied :  another  of  them,  as  he  was 
going  off  the  bench,  said  they  would  have  her  indicted  anew. 
The  chief-justice  said  he  would  not  impose  on  the  jury,  but 
intimated  as  if  they  had  not  well  considered  one  expi’ession 
of  the  prisoner  when  she  was  upon  trial ;  viz.,  that  when  one 
Hobbs,  who  had  confessed  herself  to  be  a  witch,  was  brought 
into  Court  to  witness  against  her,  the  prisoner,  turning  her 
head  to  her,  said,  ‘  What !  do  you  bring  her  ?  She  is  one  of 
us ;  ’  or  words  to  that  effect.  This,  together  with  the 
clamors  of  the  accusers,  induced  the  jury  to  go  out  again, 
after  their  verdict,  ‘Not  guilty.’” 

The  foreman  of  the  jury,  Thomas  Fisk,  made  this 
statement  on  the  4th  of  July,  a  few  days  after  the 
trial :  — 

“  After  the  honored  Court  had  manifested  their  dissatis¬ 
faction  of  the  verdict,  several  of  the  jury  declared  them¬ 
selves  desirous  to  go  out  again,  and  thereupon  the  Court 
gave  leave  ;  but,  when  we  came  to  consider  the  case,  I  could 
not  tell  how  to  take  her  words  as  an  evidence  against  her, 
till  she  had  a  further  opportunity  to  put  her  sense  upon  them, 
if  she  would  take  it.  And  then,  going  into  Court,  I  mentioned 
the  words  aforesaid,  which  by  one  of  the  Court  were 
affirmed  to  have  been  spoken  by  her,  she  being  then  at  the 
bar,  but  made  no  reply  nor  interpretation  of  them  ;  where¬ 
upon  these  words  were  to  me  a  principal  evidence  against 
her.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


285 


Upon  being  informed  of  the  use  made  of  her  words, 
the  prisoner  put  in  the  following  declaration :  — 

“  These  presents  do  humbly  show  to  the  honored  Court 
and  jury,  that  I  being  informed  that  the  jury  brought  me 
in  guilty  upon  my  saying  that  Goodwife  Hobbs  and  her 
daughter  were  of  our  company ;  but  I  intended  no  other¬ 
wise  than  as  they  were  prisoners  with  ns,  and  therefore 
did  then,  and  yet  do,  judge  them  not  legal  evidence  against 
their  fellow-prisoners.  And  I  being  something  hard  of 
hearing  and  full  of  grief,  none  informing  me  how  the  Court, 
took  up  my  words,  and  therefoi'e  had  no  opportunity  to  de¬ 
clare  what  I  intended  when  I  said  they  were  of  our  com¬ 
pany.” 

It  was  perfectly  natural  for  her  to  have  spoken  of 
them  as  “  of  our  company,”  not  only  from  the  fact 
that  they  had  long  been  crowded  together  in  the  same 
jails,  hut  as  they  had  accompanied  each  other  in  the 
transferrence  from  one  jail  to  another,  from  time  to 
time.  A  few  days  before,  a  large  party,  of  which  she 
was  one,  had  been  brought  from  Boston,  spending  the 
whole  day  together  on  the  route.  Sarah  Good,  John 
Procter  and  wife,  Susanna  Martin,  Bridget  Bishop, 
and  Alice  Parker  happen  to  be  mentioned  as  belonging 
to  it.  Calef  further  states  :  — 

“After  her  condemnation,' the  governor  saw  cause  to 
grant  a  reprieve,  which,  when  known  (and  some  say  im¬ 
mediately  upon  granting),  the  accusers  renewed  their  dis¬ 
mal  outcries  against  her  ;  insomuch  that  the  governor  was  by 
some  Salem  gentlemen  prevailed  with  to  recall  the  reprieve, 
and  she  was  executed  with  the  rest. 


286 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  The  testimonials  of  her  Christian  behavior,  both  in  the 
course  of  her  life  and  at  her  death,  and  her  extraordinary- 
care  in  educating  her  children,  and  setting  them  a  good  ex¬ 
ample,  under  the  hands  of  so  many,  are  so  numerous,  that 
for  brevity  they  are  here  omitted.” 

The  extraordinary  conduct  of  “  the  Salem  gentle¬ 
men,”  in  preventing  the  intended  exercise  of  executive 
discretion  and  clemency  on  this  occasion,  is  explained, 
it  is  probable,  by  the  fact,  stated  by  Neal  in  his  “  History 
of  New  England,”  that  there  was  an  organized  associa¬ 
tion  of  private  individuals,  a  committee  of  vigilance, 
in  Salem,  during  the  continuance  of  the  delusion,  who 
had  undertaken  to  ferret  out  and  prosecute  all  sus¬ 
pected  persons.  He  says  that  many  were  arrested  and 
thrown  into  prison  by  their  influence  and  interference. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted,  that  the  persons  who  busied 
themselves  to  prevent  the  reprieve  of  Rebecca  Nurse 
acted  under  the  authority  and  by  the  direction  of  this 
self-constituted  body  of  inquisitors.  The  agency  of 
such  unauthorized  and  irresponsible  combinations  is 
always  of  questionable  expediency.  When  acting  in 
the  same  line  with  an  excited  populace,  they  are  ex¬ 
tremely  dangerous. 

There  is  no  more  disgraceful  record  in  the  judicial 
annals  of  the  country,  than  that  which  relates  the  trial 
of  this  excellent  woman.  The  wave  of  popular  fury 
made  a  clear  breach  over  the  judgment-seat.  The  loud 
and  malignant  outcry  of  an  infatuated  mob,  inside 
and  outside  of  the  Court-house,  instead  of  being  yielded 
to,  ought  to  have  been,  not  only  sternly  rebuked,  but 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


287 


visited  with  prompt  and  exemplary  punishment.  The 
jud  ges  were  not  only  overcome  and  intimidated  from 
the  faithful  discharge  of  their  sacred  duty  by  a 
clamoring  crowd,  but  they  played  into  their  hands. 
Hutchinson  justly  remarks,  that  their  conduct  was  in 
violation  of  that  rule  to  execute  “  law  and  justice 
in  mercy,”  which  ought  always  to  be  written  on  their 
hearts.  “  In  a  capital  case,  the  Court  often  refuses  a 
verdict  of  ‘  Guilty  ;  ’  but  rarely,  if  ever,  sends  a  jury  out 
again  upon  one  of  ‘  Not  guilty.’  ”  The  statement  made 
by  the  foreman  of  the  jury,  with  the  subsequent  ex¬ 
planation  of  the  prisoner,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  ground  on  which  the  chief-justice  sent  the  jury 
out  again  after  rendering  their  verdict  of  “Not  guilty,” 
made  it  the  duty  of  the  Court  and  the  executive  to 
give  to  her  the  benefit  of  that  verdict. 

At  the  trial  of  her  mother,  Sarah  Nurse  —  aged 
twenty-eight  years  or  thereabouts  —  offered  this  piece 
of  testimony :  that,  “  being  in  the  Court,  this  29th  of 
June,  1692, 1  saw  Goodwife  Bibber  pull  pins  out  of  her 
clothes,  and  held  them  between  her  fingers,  and  clasped 
her  hands  round  her  knee  ;  and  then  she  cried  out,  and 
said,  Goody  Nurse  pinched  her.”  In  all  these  trials, 
Mercy  Lewis  was  a  principal  witness  and  actor ;  yet 
we  find,  among  the  papers,  testimony  from  the  most 
respectable  and  reliable  persons,  that  she  was  not  to 
be  trusted.  There  was  also  testimony  which  ought 
to  have  broken  the  force  of  the  depositions  of  Ann 
Putnam  and  her  mother.  Four  days  after  the  ex¬ 
amination  and  commitment  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  John 


288 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Tarbell  and  Samuel  Nurse  went  to  the  house  of  Thomas 
Putnam  to  find  out  in  what  way  their  mother  had  been 
made  the  object  of  such  shocking  accusations.  They 
were  men  whose  credibility  was  never  brought  in  ques¬ 
tion.  Their  declarations,  on  this  occasion,  were  not 
disputed,  and,  if  not  true,  might  have  been  overthrown  ; 
for  there  were  many  witnesses  of  the  facts  they  stated. 
Tarbell  swore  as  follows :  44  Upon  discourse  of  many 
things,  I  asked  whether  the  girl  that  was  afflicted  did 
first  speak  of  Goody  Nurse,  before  others  mentioned 
her  to  her.  They  said  she  told  them  she  saw  the 
apparition  of  a  pale-faced  woman  that  sat  in  her 
grandmother’s  seat,  but  did  not  know  her  name. 
Then  I  replied  and  said,  4  But  who  was  it  that  told  her 
that  it  was  Goody  Nurse?  ’  Mercy  Lewis  said  it  was 
Goody  Putnam  that  said  it  was  Goody  Nurse.  Goody 
Putnam  said  that  it  was  Mercy  Lewis  that  told  her. 
Thus  they  turned  it  upon  one  another,  saying,  4  It  was 
you,’  and  4  It  wTas  you  that  told  her.’  ”  Samuel  Nurse 
testified  to  the  same. 

There  was  another  piece  of  evidence,  which,  though 
brought  against  Rebecca  Nurse,  bears  harder,  as  we 
read  it  now,  upon  Ann  Putnam  than  any  one  else, 
and  makes  it  more  difficult  to  palliate  her  conduct 
on  the  supposition  of  partial  insanity.  It  is,  all  along, 
one  of  the  obscure  problems  of  our  subject  to  deter¬ 
mine  how  far  delusion  may  have  been  accompanied  by 
fraud  and  imposture.  Edward  Putnam  testified,  that 
44  Ann  Putnam,  Jr.,  was  bitten  by  Rebecca  Nurse,  as  she 
said,  about  two  of  the  clock  of  the  day  ”  after  Rebecca 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  289 

Nurse  had  been  committed  to  jail,  and  while  she  was 
several  miles  distant,  in  Salem  ;  and  the  said  Nurse  also 
struck  said  Ann  Putnam  with  her  spectral  chain,  leaving 
a  mark,  “  being  in  a  kind  of  a  round  ring,  and  three 
streaks  across  the  ring:  she  had  six  blows  with  a  chain 
in  the  space  of  half  an  hour ;  and  she  had  one  re¬ 
markable  one,  with  six  streaks  across  her  arm.” 
Edward  Putnam  swears,  “I  saw  the  mark,  both  of  bite 
and  chains.”  The  Court,  no  doubt,  were  solemnly 
impressed  by  this  amazing  evidence  ;  but  it  is  hard  to 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  Ann  Putnam  was  guilty  of 
elaborate  falsehood  and  a  studied  trick. 

In  the  trials  at  this  session,  one  of  the  “  afflicted 
children  ”  cried  out  against  the  Rev.  Samuel  Willard, 
of  the  Old  South  Church,  in  Boston.  “  She  was  sent 
out  of  Court,  and  it  was  told  about  that  she  was  mis¬ 
taken  in  the  person.”  There  was  surely  evidence 
enough  against  the  honesty  and  credibility  of  the 
accusers  to  leave  the  judges  without  excuse,  and 
justly  meriting  perpetual  condemnation  for  not  pay¬ 
ing  heed  to  it. 

The  case  of  Rebecca  Nurse  proves  that  a  verdict 
could  not  have  been  obtained  against  a  person  of  her 
character  charged  with  witchcraft  in  this  county,  had 
not  the  most  extraordinary  efforts  been  made  by  the 
prosecuting  officer,  aided  by  the  whole  influence  of 
the  Court  and  provincial  authorities.  The  odium  of 
the  proceedings  at  the  trials  and  at  the  executions 
cannot  fairly  be  laid  upon  Salem,  or  the  people  of  this 
vicinity. 


VOL.  II. 


19 


290 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


But  nothing  can  extenuate  the  infamy  that  must  for 
ever  rest  upon  the  names  of  certain  parties  to  the 
proceedings.  Not  to  attempt  here  to  measure  the 
guilt  of  the  accusing  witnesses,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  it  was  the  deliberate  conviction  of  the  family  of 
Rebecca  Nurse,  that  Mr.  Parris,  more  than  all  other 
persons,  was  responsible  for  her  execution ;  whether 
by  his  officious  activity  in  driving  on  the  prosecution, 
or  in  preventing  her  reprieve,  cannot  be  known.  Of 
the  prominent  part  taken  by  Mr.  Noyes  in  the  cruel 
treatment  of  this  woman,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt. 
The  records  of  the  First  Church  in  Salem  are  dark¬ 
ened  by  the  following  entry  :  — 

“  1G92,  July  3.  —  After  sacrament,  the  elders  propounded 
to  the  church,  —  and  it  was,  by  an  unanimous  vote,  consented 
to,  —  that  our  sister  Nurse,  being  a  convicted  witch  by  the 
Court,  and  condemned  to  die,  should  be  excommunicated ; 
which  was  accordingly  done  in  the  afternoon,  she  being 
present.” 

The  scene  presented  on  this  occasion  must  have 
been  truly  impressive  at  the  time,  as  it  is  shocking  to 
us  in  the  retrospect.  The  action  of  the  church,  at  the 
close  of  the  morning  service,  of  course  became  uni¬ 
versally  known  ;  and  the  “  great  and  spacious  meeting¬ 
house  ”  was  thronged  by  a  crowd  that  filled  every 
nook  and  corner  of  its  floor,  galleries,  and  windows. 
The  sheriff  and  his  subordinates  brought  in  the  pris¬ 
oner,  manacled,  and  the  chains  clanking  from  her 
aged  form.  She  was  placed  in  the  broad  aisle.  Mr. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


201 


Higginson  and  Mr.  Noyes  —  the  elders,  as  the  clergy 
were  then  called  —  were  in  the  pulpit.  The  two  ruling 
elders  —  who  were  lay  officers  —  and  the  two  deacons 
were  in  their  proper  seats,  directly  below  and  in  front 
of  the  pulpit.  Mr.  Noyes  pronounced  the  dread  sen¬ 
tence,  which,  for  such  a  crime,  was  then  believed  to  be 
not  merely  an  expulsion  from  the  church  on  earth,  but 
an  exclusion  from  the  church  in  heaven.  It  was  meant 
to  be  understood  as  an  eternal  doom.  As  it  had  been 
proved,  in  his  estimation,  beyond  a  question,  that  she 
had  given  her  soul  to  the  Devil,  lie  delivered  her  over 
to  the  great  adversary  of  God  and  man. 

From  the  dismal  cell,  which,  for  but  a  few  days 
longer,  was  to  hold  her  body,  he  proclaimed  the  trail  s- 
ferrence  of  her  soul  to  — 

“  A  dungeon  horrible  on  all  sides  round, 

As  one  great  furnace  flamed ;  yet  from  those  flames 
No  light,  but  rather  darkness  visible  ; 

Regions  of  sorrow,  doleful  shades,  where  peace 
And  rest  can  never  dwell ;  hope  never  comes 
That  comes  to  all ;  but  torture  without  end. 

As  far  removed  from  God,  and  light  of  heaven, 

As  from  the  centre  thrice  to  the  utmost  pole.” 

Language  and  imagery,  exhausting  the  resources  of 
the  divine  genius  of  the  greatest  of  poets,  fail  to  give 
expression  to  what  was  felt  to  be  the  import  of  this 
fearful  sentence.  It  sunk  the  recipient  of  it  below  the 
reach  of  human  sympathy.  She  was  regarded,  by  that 
blinded  multitude,  with  a  horror  that  cast  out  pity,  and 
was  full  of  hate.  But  in  our  view  now,  and,  as  we 
believe,  in  the  view  of  God  and  angels  then,  she 


202 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


occupied  an  infinite  height  above  her  persecutors. 
Her  mind  was  serenely  fixed  upon  higher  scenes,  and 
filled  with  a  peace  which  the  world  could  not  take 
away,  or  its  cruel  wrongs  disturb.  She  went  back  to 
her  prison  walls,  and  then  to  the  scaffold,  with  a  pious 
and  humble  faith  which  has  not  failed  to  be  recorded 
among  men,  as  it  has  been  rewarded  where  the  wicked 
cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest. 

Calef,  as  already  quoted,  gives  the  impression  pro¬ 
duced  by  her  demeanor  at  her  death.  Hutchinson 
expresses  in  the  following  words  the  judgment  of  his¬ 
tory  and  the  sense  of  all  coming  times  :  — 

“  Mr.  Noyes,  the  minister  of  Salem,  a  zealous  prosecutor, 
excommunicated  the  poor  old  woman,  and  delivered  her 
to  Satan,  to  whom  he  supposed  she  had  formally  given  her¬ 
self  up  many  years  before  ;  but  her  life  and  conversation 
had  been  such,  that  the  remembrance  thereof,  iu  a  short 
time  after,  wiped  off  all  the  reproach  occasioned  by  the  civil 
or  ecclesiastical  sentence  against. her.” 

It  is  impossible  to  close  the  story  of  the  lot  assigned 
to  this  good  woman  by  an  inscrutable  Providence, 
without  again  contemplating  it  in  a  condensed  reca¬ 
pitulation.  In  her  old  age,  experiencing  a  full  share 
of  all  the  delicate  infirmities  which  the  instincts  of 
humanity  require  to  be  treated  with  careful  and  rev¬ 
erent  tenderness,  she  was  ruthlessly  snatched  from  the 
bosom  of  a  loving  family  reared  by  her  pious  fidelity  in 
all  Christian  graces,  from  the  side  of  the  devoted  com¬ 
panion  of  her  long  life,  from  a  home  that  was  endeared 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


293 


by  every  grateful  association  and  comfort ;  immured  in 
the  most  wretched  and  crowded  jails  ;  kept  loaded  with 
irons  and  hound  with  cords  for  months ;  insulted  and 
maligned  at  the  preliminary  examinations  ;  outraged 
in  her  person  by  rough  and  unfeeling  handling  and 
scrutiny ;  and  in  her  rights,  by  the  most  flagrant  and 
detestable  judicial  oppression,  by  which  the  benefit  of 
a  verdict,  given  in  her  favor,  had  been  torn  away ; 
carried  to  the  meeting-house  to  receive  the  sentence 


of  excommunication  in  a  manner  devised  to  harrow 
her  most  sacred  sentiments  ;  and  finally  carted  through 
the  streets  by  a  route  every  foot  of  which  must  have 
been  distressing  to  her  infirm  and  enfeebled  frame ; 
made  to  ascend  a  rough  and  rocky  path  to  the  place 
of  execution,  and  there  consigned  to  the  hangman. 
Surely,  there  has  seldom  been  a  harder  fate. 

Her  body  was  probably  thrown  with  the  rest  into  a 
hole  in  the  crevices  of  the  rock,  and  covered  hastily 
and  thinly  over  by  the  executioners.  It  has  been  the 
constant  tradition  of  the  family,  that,  in  some  way,  it 
was  recovered  ;  and  the  spot  is  pointed  out  in  the  burial- 
place  belonging  to  the  estate,  where  her  ashes  rest  by 
the  side  of  her  husband,  and  in  the  midst  of  her 
children.  It  is  certain,  that,  at  least,  one  other  body 
was  thus  exhumed,  and  taken  to  its  own  proper  place 
of  burial.  From  the  known  character  of  Francis 
Nurse  and  his  sons  and  sons-in-law,  we  mav  be  sure 
that  what  others  could  do  they  did  not  suffer  to  re¬ 
main  undone.  It  is  left  to  the  imagination  to  present 
the  details  of  the  sad  and  secret  enterprise.  In  the 


294 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


darkness  of  midnight,  they  found  and  identified  the 
body,  and  bore  it  tenderly  in  their  arms  along  the 
silent  roads  and  by-ways,  across  fields  and  over  fences, 
to  the  old  home,  where  it  was  received  by  the  assem¬ 
bled  family,  mourned  over,  and  cared  for  ;  and,  during 
that  or  the  ensuing  night,  deposited,  with  tears  and 
prayers,  in  their  own  consecrated  grounds.  Her  de¬ 
scendants  of  successive  generations  owned  and  rever¬ 
ently  guarded  the  spot.  They  own  and  guard  it  to¬ 
day.  The  interesting  reminiscences  connected  with 
the  early  history  of  the  Nurse  house  have  been  alluded 
to.  It  has  witnessed  an  extraordinary  variety  of  the 
conditions  of  domestic  vicissitude.  Scenes  rising  be¬ 
fore  the  mind  in  contemplative  retrospection,  while 
gazing  upon  it,  present  the  extremest  contrasts  of 
human  experience.  On  the  evening  of  the  25tli  of 
October,  1678,  Mary  and  Elizabeth  Nurse  were  mar¬ 
ried.  Such  an  occurrence  was  undoubtedly  the  oc¬ 
casion  of  the  highest  joy  and  gladness  in  a  happy 
household.  The  old  mansion  shone  in  light,  and 
echoed  voices  of  cheer.  IIow  altered  its  aspect ! 
What  darkness  and  silence  brooded  over  and  within 
it,  while  those  same  daughters  waited,  watched,  and 
listened,  through  the  solemn  hours  of  that  night  of 
woe  and  horror,  for  the  coming  of  their  father,  hus¬ 
bands,  and  brothers,  bearing  to  the  home,  from  which 
she  had  been  so  cruelly  torn,  the  remains  of  their 
slaughtered  mother ! 

The  subsequent  history  of  the  house  presents  a 
circumstance  of  singular  interest  in  connection  with 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


295 


our  story.  All  the  members  of  the  three  branches  of 
the  Putnam  family,  with  the  exception  of  Joseph,  seem 
to  have  been  carried  away  by  the  witchcraft  delusion, 
in  its  early  stages,  and  were  more  or  less  active  in 
pushing  on  the  prosecutions.  We  have  seen  how  fierce 
was  the  maniac  testimony  of  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  and 
her  daughter  against  Rebecca  Nurse.  The  lapse  of 
time,  by  a  Providence  that  wonderfully  works  its  ends, 
has  repaired  the  breaches  made  by  folly  and  wrong. 
The  descendants  of  the  numerous  family  of  Mrs.  Ann 
Putnam  have  disappeared  from  the  scene :  none  of 
them  bearing  the  name  are  in  the  village.  The  de¬ 
scendants  of  Deacon  Edward  Putnam  have  also  scat¬ 
tered  in  emigration  to  other  places.  Nathaniel  and 
John,  the  heads  of  the  other  two  branches  of  the 
family,  although  involved  in  the  witchcraft  delusion, 
each  signed  papers  in  favor  of  Rebecca  Nurse;  their 
descendants,  as  well  as  those  of  Joseph,  are  still 
numerous  in  the  village,  hold  their  old  position  •  of 
respectability  and  influence,  and  many  of  them  occupy 
the  lands  of  their  ancestors.  Stephen,  the  grandson 
of  Nathaniel,  married  Miriam,  the  grand-daughter  of 
John.  Their  son  Phinehas,  in  1784,  bought  the  Nurse 
homestead  from  Benjamin  Nurse,  the  great-grandson 
of  Rebecca.  Orin  Putnam,  the  great-grandson  of 
Phinehas,  to  whom  the  estate  descends,  married  in 
1836  the  daughter  of  Allen  Nurse,  a  direct  descendant 
of  Rebecca,  and  placed  her  at  the  head  of  her  old  an¬ 
cestral  homestead.  The  children  of  that  marriage, 
with  their  father  and  grandfather,  constitute  the  family 


296 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  "VILLAGE. 


that  dwell  in  and  own  the  venerable  mansion.  This 
singular  restoration,  suggesting  such  pleasing  senti¬ 
ments,  adds  another  to  the  remarkable  elements  of  in¬ 
terest  belonging  to  the  history  of  the  Townsend-Bishop 
House. 

The  descendants  of  Francis  and  Rebecca  Nurse 
arc  numerous,  and  have  honorably  perpetuated  the 
name.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  Rev. 
Peter  Nurse,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  1802, 
for  some  years  librarian  of  that  institution,  an  excellent 
scholar,  and  long  universally  respected  as  a  clergy¬ 
man  ;  and  Amos  Nurse,  a  graduate  of  the  same 
college  in  1812,  —  an  eminent  physician  connected  with 
the  medical  faculty  of  Bowdoin  College,  a  man  of  dis¬ 
tinguished  talent  and  influence  in  public  affairs,  and 
senator  in  Congress  from  the  State  of  Maine. 

The  Court  met  again  on  the  5th  of  August,  and 
tried  George  Burroughs ;  John  Procter  and  Elizabeth, 
his  wife;  George  Jacobs,  Sr.;  John  Willard;  and 
Martha  Carrier.  They  were  all  condemned,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  Elizabeth  Procter,  executed  on  the 
19th  of  the  same  month. 

Hutchinson  describes  the  trial  of  Burroughs.  After 
speaking  of  the  evidence  of  the  “  afflicted  persons  ” 
and  the  confessing  witches,  he  mentions  other  circum¬ 
stances  which  were  thought  to  corroborate  it :  “  One 
was,  that,  being  a  little  man,  he  had  performed  feats 
beyond  the  strength  of  a  giant;  viz.,  had  held  out  a 
gun  of  seven  feet  barrel  with  one  hand,  and  had  carried 
a  barrel  full  of  cider  from  a  canoe  to  the  shore.”  Bur- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


297 


roughs  said  that  an  Indian  present  at  the  time  did  the 
same.  Instantly,  the  accusers  said  it  was  “  the  black 
man,  or  the  Devil,  who,”  they  swore,  “  looks  like  an 
Indian.”  Another  piece  of  evidence  was,  that  he 
went  from  one  place  to  another,  on  a  certain  occasion, 
in  a  shorter  time  than  was  possible  had  not  the  Devil 
helped  him.  He  said,  in  answer,  that  another  man  ac¬ 
companied  him.  Their  reply  to  this  was,  that  it  was 
the  Devil,  using  the  appearance  of  another  man.  So 
whatever  he  said  was  turned  against  him.  Hutch¬ 
inson  says,  “  Upon  the  whole,  he  was  confounded, 
and  used  many  twistings  and  turnings,  which,  I  think, 
we  cannot  wonder  at.”  This  fair  and  judicious  writer, 
like  Brattle,  appears  in  the  foregoing  remark  to  have 
adopted  the  common  scandal,  put  in  circulation  by 
parties  interested  to  disparage  Mr.  Burroughs.  The 
papers  in  this  case,  that  have  come  down  to  us,  are 
more  numerous  than  in  reference  to  many  others 
among  the  sufferers ;  and  they  do  not  hear  such  an 
impression.  Mr.  Burroughs  was  astounded  at  the 
monstrous  folly  and  falsehood  with  which  he  was  sur¬ 
rounded.  He  was  a  man  without  guile,  and  incapable 
of  appreciating  such  wickedness.  He  tried,  in  sim¬ 
plicity  and  ingenuousness,  to  explain  what  was  brought 
against  him ;  and  this,  probably,  was  all  the  “  twisting 
and  turning”  he  exhibited. 

Hutchinson  had  the  benefit  of  consulting  all  the 
papers  belonging  to  this  and  other  trials  ;  but  neither 
he  nor  Calef  seems  to  have  noticed  one  remarkable 
fact :  many  of  the  depositions,  how  many  we  cannot 


298 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


tell,  were  procured  after  tlie  trials  were  over,  and  sur¬ 
reptitiously  foisted  in  among  the  papers  to  bolster  up 
the  proceedings.  We  find,  for  instance,  the  following 
deposition :  — 

“  Thomas  Greenslitt,  aged  about  forty  years,  being 
deposed,  testifieth  that,  about  the  first  breaking-out  of  this 
last  Indian  war,  being  at  the  house  of  Captain  Joshua 
Scotto  at  Black  Point,  he  saw  Mr.  George  Burrows,  who 
was  lately  executed  at  Salem,  lift  a  gun  of  six-foot  barrel 
or  thereabouts,  putting  the  forefinger  of  his  right  hand  into 
the  muzzle  of  said  gun,  and  that  be  held  it  out  at  arms’ 
end,  only  with  that  finger  :  and  further  this  deponent  testifieth, 
that,  at  the  same  time,  he  saw  the  said  Burrows  take  up  a 
full  barrel  of  molasses  with  but  two  of  the  fingers  of  one  of 
his  hands  in  the  bung,  and  carry  it  from  the  stage  head  to  the 
door  at  the  end  of  the  stage,  without  letting  it  down  ;  and  that 
Lieutenant  Richard  Ilunniwell  and  John  Greenslitt  were  then 
present,  and  some  others  that  are  dead.  Sept.  15,  ’92.” 

Not  only  the  date  to  this  deposition,  but  its  express 
language,  proves  that  it  could  not  have  been  used  at  the 
trial.  There  is  another,  to  the  same  effect  and  of  the 
same  date,  that  is,  nearly  a  month  after  Burroughs  was 
thrown  into  his  grave.  There  are  others  of  the  same 
kind.  This  stamps  the  management  of  the  prosecutions, 
and  of  those  concerned  in  the  charge  of  the  papers, 
with  an  irregularity  of  the  grossest  kind,  which  partakes 
strongly  of  the  character  of  fraud  and  falsehood. 

When  it  was  found  that  there  was  beginning  to 
grow  up  a  want  of  confidence  in  “  spectre  evidence  ” 
and  the  testimony  of  the  afflicted  children,  those  con- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


299 


cerned  in  the  prosecutions  became  alarmed  lest  a 
re-action  of  public  sentiment  might  take  place.  The 
persons  who  had  brought  Mr.  Burroughs  to  his  death 
concluded  that  their  best  escape  from  public  indig¬ 
nation  was  to  accumulate  evidence  against  him  after 
he  was  in  his  grave,  particularly  on  the  point  of  his 
superhuman  strength ;  and  they  got  up  these  depo¬ 
sitions,  and  caused  them  to  be  put  among  the  papers 
on  file.  Great  stress  was  laid,  by  those  who  were 
interested  in  damaging  his  character  and  suppressing 
sympathy  in  his  fate,  upon  this  particular  proof  of 
his  having  been  in  confederacy  with  the  Devil.  In¬ 
crease  Mather  said,  that,  in  his  judgment,  it  was  con¬ 
clusive  evidence  that  he  “  had  the  Devil  to  be  his 
familiar,”  and  that,  had  he  been  on  the  jury,  he  could 
not,  on  this  account,  have  concurred  in  a  verdict  of 
acquittal ;  and  Cotton  Mather,  feeling  the  importance 
of  making  the  most  of  Mr.  Burroughs’s  extraordinary 
strength,  gives  way  to  his  tendency  to  indulge  in  the 
marvellous,  as  follows  :  — 

“  God  had  been  pleased  so  to  leave  this  George  Bur¬ 
roughs,  that  he  had  ensnared  himself  by  several  instances 
which  he  had  formerly  given  of  preternatural  strength, 
and  which  were  now  produced  against  him.  He  was  a  very 
puny  man,  yet  he  had  often  done  things  beyond  the  strength 
of  a  giant.  A  gun  of  about  seven-foot  barrel,  and  so  heavy 
that  strong  men  could  not  steadily  hold  it  out  with  both 
hands,  —  there  were  several  testimonies  given  in  by  persons 
of  credit  and  honor,  that  he  made  nothing  of  taking  up 
such  a  gun  behind  the  lock  with  but  one  hand,  and  holding 
it  out,  like  a  pistol,  at  arms’  end.  Yea,  there  were  two 


300 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


testimonies,  that  George  Burroughs,  with  only  putting  the 
forefinger  of  his  right  hand  into  the  muzzle  of  a  heavy  gun, 
a  fowling-piece  of  about  six  or  seven  foot  barrel,  did  lift 
up  the  gun,  and  hold  it  out  at  arms’  end,  —  a  gun  which  the 
deponents  thought  strong  men  could  not  with  both  hands 
lift  up,  and  hold  at  the  butt  end,  as  is  usual.” 

It  is  further  observable,  in  reference  to  the  fore¬ 
going  deposition  from  Greenslitt,  that  it  was  given 
six  days  after  the  condemnation  of  his  mother,  Ann 
Pudeator,  and  a  week  before  her  execution.  Cotton 
Mather  says  that  he  “  was  overpersuaded  by  others 
to  be  out  of  the  way  upon  George  Burroughs’s  trial,” 
six  weeks  before.  He  did  not  fail,  however,  to  come 
to  Salem  to  be  with  his  mother  at  her  trial  and  until 
her  death,  and  being  here  was  compelled  to  give  his 
deposition.  His  mother’s  life  was  at  the  mercy  of 
the  prosecutors  ;  and  he  was  tempted,  in  the  vain  hope 
of  conciliating  that  mercy,  to  gratify  them  by  making 
the  statement  about  Burroughs  a  month  after  his 
execution,  and  whom  it  could  not  then  harm.  What 
he  said  was  probably  no  more  than  the  truth.  It  has 
been  found  that  the  power  of  the  human  muscles  can 
be  cultivated  to  a  surprising  extent ;  and  the  feats 
ascribed  to  Burroughs,  without  making  much  allow¬ 
ance  for  a  natural  degree  of  exaggeration,  have  been 
fully  equalled  in  our  day. 

Calef  gives  the  following  account  of  his  execution  :  — 

“  Mr.  Burroughs  was  carried  in  a  cart  with  the  others, 
through  the  streets  of  Salem,  to  execution.  When  he  was 
upon  the  ladder,  he  made  a  speech  for  the  clearing  of  his 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


301 


innocency,  with  such  solemn  and  serious  expressions  as 
were  to  the  admiration  of  all  preseut.  His  prayer  (which 
he  concluded  by  repeating  the  Lord’s  Prayer)  was  so  well 
worded,  and  uttered  with  such  composeduess  and  such  (at 
least  seeming)  fervency  of  spirit,  as  was  very  affecting,  and 
drew  tears  from  many,  so  that  it  seemed  to  some  that  the 
spectators  would  hinder  the  execution.  The  accusers  said 
the  black  man  stood  and  dictated  to  him.  As  soon  as  he 
was  turned  off,  Mr.  Cotton  Mather,  being  mounted  upon  a 
horse,  addressed  himself  to  the  people,  partly  to  declare  that 
he  (Mr.  Burroughs)  was  no  ordained  minister,  and  partly 
to  possess  the  people  of  his  guilt,  saying  that  the  Devil  often 
had  been  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light ;  and  this  some¬ 
what  appeased  the  people,  and  the  executions  went  on.  When 
he  was  cut  down,  he  was  dragged  by  a  halter  to  a  hole,  or 
grave,  between  the  rocks,  about  two  feet  deep  ;  his  shirt  and 
breeches  being  pulled  off,  and  an  old  pair  of  trousers  of  one 
executed  put  on  his  lower  parts:  he  was  so  put  in,  together 
with  Willard  and  Carrier,  that  one  of  his  hands,  and  his 
chin,  and  a  foot  of  one  of  them,  was  left  uncovered.” 

Cotton  Mather,  not  satisfied  with  this  display  of 
animosity,  at  a  moment  when  every  human  heart,  how¬ 
ever  imhittered  by  prejudice,  is  hushed  for  the  time 
in  solemn  silence,  attempts,  in  an  account  afterwards 
given  of  Mr.  Burroughs’s  trial,  to  blacken  his  char¬ 
acter  by  an  elaborate  dressing-up  of  the  absurd  stories 
told  by  the  accusers,  and  a  perverse  misrepresenta¬ 
tion  of  the  demeanor  of  the  accused.  He  relates  with 
apparent  glee  what  was  regarded  as  a  wonderful 
achievement  of  adroitness  on  the  part  of  Chief-justice 
Stoughton  in  trapping  Mr.  Burroughs,  and  putting 
the  laugh  upon  him  in  Court. 


302 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  It  cost  the  Court  a  wonderful  deal  of  trouble  to  hear 
the  testimonies  of  the  sufferers  ;  for,  when  they  were  going 
to  give  in  their  depositions,  they  would  for  a  long  while 
be  taken  with  fits,  that  made  them  quite  uncapable  of  saying 
any  thing.  The  chief  judge  asked  the  prisoner,  who  he 
thought  hindered  these  witnesses  from  giving  their  testimo¬ 
nies  ;  and  he  answered,  he  supposed  it  was  the  Devil.  The 
honorable  person  then  replied,  4  How  comes  the  Devil  so 
loath  to  have  any  testimony  borne  against  you?’  Which 
cast  him  into  very  great  confusion.” 

From  what  fell  from  him,  at  the  preliminary  ex¬ 
amination,  it  is  evident  that  it  did  not  occur  to  him 
as  a  possibility  that  human  nature  could  be  capable 
of  the  guilt  of  such  a  wilful  fabrication  and  imposture 
on  the  part  of  the  44  afflicted  children.”  He  beheld 
their  sufferings,  and  he  knew  his  own  innocence.  He 
felt,  whatever  his  theological  creed  might  have  been, 
that  a  Devil  was  required  to  explain  the  mystery. 
The  apparent  sufferings  of  the  accusing  witnesses  con¬ 
vinced  Court,  jury,  and  all,  of  the  guilt  of  the  accused. 
The  logic  of  the  chief-justice  was  perfectly  absurd. 
For,  if  the.  Devil  caused  the  sufferings,  he  was  an  adverse 
party  to  the  prisoner.  This,  however,  overthrows  the 
whole  theory  of  the  prosecution,  which  was  that  the  pris¬ 
oner  and  the  Devil  were  in  league  with  each  other.  But 
the  judge,  jury,  and  people,  all  equally  blinded  and 
stupefied  by  the  delusion,  did  not  see  it ;  and  they 
chuckled  over  the  alleged  confusion  of  the  prisoner. 
All  thoughtful  persons  will  concur  in  Mr.  Burroughs’s 
opinion,  that,  if  ever  a  diabolical  power  had  possession 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


oao 
0\JO 

of  human  beings,  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  wretched 
creatures  who  enacted  the  part  of  the  accusing  girls 
in  the  witchcraft  proceedings.  In  his  account  of  the 
trial,  Mather  makes  statements  which  show  that  he 
was  privy  to  the  fact,  that  testimony,  subsequently 
taken,  was  lodged  with  the  evidence  belonging  to  the 
case.  The  documents  prove  that  it  was  done  to  an 
extent  beyond  what  he  acknowledges. 

Considering  that  none  dared  to  show  the  least  sym¬ 
pathy  with  the  persons  on  trial,  that  they  had  none  to 
counsel  or  stand  by  them,  that  the  public  passions 
were  incensed  against  them  as  against  no  other  per¬ 
sons  ever  charged  with  crime,  —  it  being  vastly  more 
flagrant  than  any  other  crime,  a  rebellion  against 
heaven  and  earth,  God  and  man;  a  deliberate  selling  of 
the  soul  to  the  Arch-enemy  of  souls  for  the  ruin  of  all 
other  souls,  —  in  view  of  all  these  things,  it  is  truly  as¬ 
tonishing,  that,  by  the  documents  themselves,  proceed¬ 
ing,  as  in  almost  all  cases  they  do,  from  hostile  and 
imbittcred  sources,  we  are  compelled  to  the  conviction, 
that,  in  their  imprisonments,  trials,  and  deaths,  the 
victims  of  this  savage  delusion  manifested  —  in  most 
cases  eminently,  and  in  all  substantially  —  the  marks, 
not  only  of  innocent,  but  of  elevated  and  heroic  minds. 
A  review  of  what  can  be  gleaned  in  reference  to 
Mr.  Burroughs  at  Casco  Bay  and  Salem  Village,  and 
a  considerate  survey  and  scrutiny  of  all  that  has 
reached  us  from  the  day  of  his  arrest  to  the  moment 
of  his  death,  have  left  a  decided  impression,  that  he 
was  an  able,  intelligent,  true-minded  man ;  ingenuous, 


304 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


sincere,  humble  in  his  spirit ;  faithful  and  devoted  as  a 
minister ;  and  active,  generous,  and  disinterested  as 
a  citizen.  His  descendants,  under  his  own  name  afld 
the  names  of  Newman,  Fowle,  Holbrook,  Fox,  Thomas, 
and  others,  have  been  numerous  and  respectable.  The 
late  Isaiah  Thomas,  LL.D.,  was  one  of  them. 

From  the  account  given  of  John  Procter,  in  the 
First  Part,  it  is  apparent  that  he  was  a  person  of 
decided  character,  and,  although  impulsive  and  liable 
to  be  imprudent,  of  a  manly  spirit,  honest,  earnest, 
and  bold  in  word  and  deed.  He  saw  through  the 
whole  thing,'  and  was  convinced  that  it  was  the  result 
of  a  conspiracy,  deliberate  and  criminal,  on  the  part  of 
the  accusers.  He  gave  free  utterance  to  his  indig¬ 
nation  at  their  conduct,  and  it  cost  him  his  life. 

A  few  days  before  his  trial,  he  made  his  will.  There 
is  no  reference  in  it  to  his  particular  situation.  His 
signature  to  the  document  is  accurately  represented 
among  the  autographs  given  in  this  work.  It  was 
written  while  the  manacles  were  on  him.  Notwith¬ 
standing  the  danger  to  which  any  one  was  exposed  who 
expressed  sympathy  for  convicted  or  accused  persons, 
or  doubt  of  their  guilt,  a  large  number  had  the  manli¬ 
ness  to  try  to  save  this  worthy  and  honest  citizen. 
John  Wise,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Ipswich,  heads 
the  list  of  petitioners  from  that  place.  The  document 
is  in  his  handwriting.  Thirty-one  others  joined  in  the 
act,  many  of  them  among  the  most  respectable  citizens 
of  that  town.  Mr.  Wise  was  a  learned,  able,  and 
enlightened  man.  He  had  a  free  spirit,  and  was  per- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


305 


haps  the  only  minister  in  the  neighborhood  or  country, 
who  was  discerning  enough  to  see  the  erroneousness  of 
the  proceedings  from  the  beginning.  The  petition  is 
as  follows :  — 

“  The  Humble  and  Sincere  Declaration  of  us ,  Subscribers , 
Inhabitants  in  Ipswich ,  on  the  Behalf  of  our  Neighbors , 
John  Procter  and  his  Wife,  now  in  Trouble  and 
under  Suspicion  of  Witchcraft. 

“  TO  TIIE  HONORABLE  COURT  OF  ASSISTANTS  NOAV  SITTING 

IN  BOSTON. 

“  Honored  and  Right  Worshipful , —  The  aforesaid  John 
Procter  may  have  great  reason  to  justify  the  Divine  Sover¬ 
eignty  of  God  under  these  severe  remarks  of  Providence 
upon  his  peace  and  honor,  under  a  due  reflection  upon  his 
life  past ;  and  so  the  best  of  us  have  reason  to  adore  the 
great  pity  and  indulgence  of  God’s  providence,  that  we  are 
not  exposed  to  the  utmost  shame  that  the  Devil  can  invent, 
under  the  permissions  of  sovereignty,  though  not  for  that 
sin  forenamed,  yet  for  our  many  transgressions.  For  we  do 
at  present  suppose,  that  it  may  be  a  method  within  the  se¬ 
verer  but  just  transactions  of  the  infinite  majesty  of  God, 
that  he  sometimes  may  permit  Sathau  to  personate,  dis¬ 
semble,  and  thereby  abuse  innocents  and  such  as  do,  in  the 
fear  of  God,  defy  the  Devil  and  all  his  works.  The  great 
rage  he  is  permitted  to  attempt  holy  Job  with ;  the  abuse  he 
does  the  famous  Samuel  iu  disquieting  his  silent  dust,  by 
shadowing  his  venerable  person  in  answer  to  the  charms  of 
witchcraft ;  and  other  instances  from  good  hands,  —  may  be 
arguments.  Besides  the  unsearchable  footsteps  of  God’s 
judgments,  that  are  brought  to  light  every  morning,  that  as- 

20 


VOL.  II. 


306 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


tonish  our  weaker  reasons ;  to  teach  us  adoration,  trembling, 
dependence,  See.  But  we  must  not  trouble  Your  Honors  by 
being;  tedious.  Therefore,  being:  smitten  with  the  notice  of 
what  hath  happened,  we  reckon  it  within  the  duties  of  our 
charity,  that  teachcth  us  to  do  as  we  would  be  done  by,  to 
offer  thus  much  for  the  clearing  of  our  neighbors’  innocency ; 
viz.,  that  we  never  had  the  least  knowledge  of  such  a  ne- 
fandous  wickedness  in  our  said  neighbors,  since  they  have 
been  within  our  acquaintance.  Neither  do  we  remember 
any  such  thoughts  in  us  concerning  them,  or  any  action  by 
them  or  either  of  them,  directly  tending  that  way,  no  more 
than  might  be  in  the  lives  of  any  other  persons  of  the  clear¬ 
est  reputation  as  to  any  such  evils.  What  God  may  have 
left  them  to,  we  cannot  go  into  God’s  pavilion  clothed  with 
clouds  of  darkness  round  about ;  but,  as  to  what  we  have 
ever  seen  or  heard  of  them,  upon  our  consciences  we  judge 
them  innocent  of  the  crime  objected.  Ilis  breeding  hath 
been  amongst  us,  and  was  of  religious  parents  in  our  place, 
and,  by  reason  of  relations  and  properties  within  our  town, 
hath  had  constant  intercourse  with  us.  We  speak  upon  our 
personal  acquaintance  and  observation  ;  and  so  leave  our 
neighbors,  and  this  our  testimony  on  their  behalf,  to  the  wise 
thoughts  of  Your  Honors. 

Jn?  Wise.  Nathaniel  Perkins  Benjamin  Marshall 

William  Story  Sent  Thomas  Lovkine.  John  Andrews  Jut 
Reinalld  Foster  William  Cogswell.  William  Butler. 
Thos.  Chote.  Thomas  Yarny.  William  Andrews. 

John  Burnum  St  John  Fellows.  John  Andrews. 
William  Tiiomsonn.  Wm.  Cogswell  Jut  John  Chote  Set 
Tiio.  Low  Sent  Jonathan  Cogswell.  Joseph  Procter. 
Isaac  Foster.  John  Cogswell  Ju.  Samuel  Gidding 

John  Burnum  junt  John  Cogswell.  Joseph  Evletii 
William  Goodhew.  Thomas  Andrews.  James  White. 

Isaac  Perkins.  Joseph  Andrews.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


307 


I  have  given  the  names  of  the  men  who  signed  this 
paper,  as  copied  from  the  original.  It  is  due  to  their 
memory ;  and  their  descendants  may  well  be  grati¬ 
fied  by  the  testimony  thus  borne  to  their  courage  and 
justice. 

Their  neighbors  living  near  the  bounds  of  the  village 
presented  the  following  paper,  in  the  handwriting  of 
Felton,  the  first  signer.  From  the  appearance  of  the 
document,  it  seems  that  a  portion  of  it,  probably  con¬ 
taining  an  equal  number  of  names,  has  been  cut  out 
by  scissors. 

“  We  whose  names  are  underwritten,  having  several 
years  known  John  Procter  and  his  wife,  do  testify  that 
we  never  heard  or  understood  that  they  were  ever  suspected 
to  be  guilty  of  the  crime  now  charged  upon  them  ;  and  sev¬ 
eral  of  us,  being  their  near  neighbors,  do  testify,  that,  to  our 
apprehension,  they  lived  Christian-like  in  their  family,  and 
were  ever  ready  to  help  such  as  stood  in  need  of  their  help. 

“Nathaniel  Felton,  Sr.,  and  Mary  his  wife. 

Samuel  Marsh,  and  Priscilla  his  wife. 

James  IIoulton,  and  Ruth  his  wife. 

John  Felton. 

Nathaniel  Felton,  Jr. 

Samuel  Frayll,  and  An  his  wife. 

Zachariah  Marsh,  and  Mary  his  wife. 

Samuel  Endecott,  and  Hanaii  his  wife 

Samuel  Stone. 

George  Locker. 

Samuel  Gaskil,  and  Provided  his  wife. 

George  Smith. 

Edward  Gaskil.” 

In  addition  to  this  testimony  in  their  favor,  evidence 
was  offered,  at  their  trial,  that  one  of  the  accusing 


308 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


witnesses  had  denied,  out  of  Court,  what  she  had 
sworn  to  in  Court ;  and  declared  that  she  must,  at  the 
time,  have  been  “  out  of  her  head,”  and  that  she  had 
never  intended  to  accuse  them.  It  was  farther  proved, 
that  another  of  the  accusing  witnesses  acknowledged 
that  she  had  sworn  falsely,  and  tried  to  explain  away 
her  testimony  in  Court,  acknowledging  that  what  the 
girls  said  was  “  for  sport.  They  must  have  some 
sport.”  But  neither  the  testimony  in  their  favor  from 
those  who  had  known  them  through  life,  nor  the  pal¬ 
pable  and  decisive  manner  in  which  the  evidence 
against  them  had  been  impeached  and  exposed,  could 
open  the  eyes  of  the  infatuated  Court  and  jury. 

After  his  conviction,  he  requested,  in  vain,  time 
enough  to  prepare  himself  for  death,  and  make  the 
necessary  arrangements  of  his  business  and  for  the 
welfare  of  his  family ;  and  the  statement  has  come 
down  to  us,  that  Mr.  Noyes  refused  to  pray  with  him, 
unless  he  would  confess  himself  guilty.  The  following 
letter,  addressed  by  him  to  the  ministers  named,  in 
behalf  of  himself  and  fellow-prisoners,  gives  a  truly 
shocking  account  of  the  outrages  connected  with  the 
prosecutions.  It  illustrates  the  courage  of  the  writer 
in  exposing  them,  and  is  a  sensible  and  manly  appeal 
and  remonstrance.  There  is  ground  for  supposing 
that  the  ministers  addressed  were  known  not  to  be 
entirely  carried  away  by  the  delusion.  The  fact  that 
Mr.  Mather  —  meaning,  of  course,  Increase  Mather  — 
is  the  first  named,  corroborates  other  evidence  that  he 
was  beginning  to  entertain  doubts  about  the  propriety 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


309 


of  the  proceedings.  Of  the  Rev.  James  Allen,  much 
has  been  said  in  connection  with  the  Townsend-Bisliop 
farm.  lie  had  been  a  clergyman  in  England,  and  was 
silenced  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  in  1662.  He  came 
to  New  England  ;  and,  after  officiating  as  an  assistant 
to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport,  in  the  First  Church  at  Bos¬ 
ton,  for  six  years,  was  ordained  as  its  preacher  in  1668. 
He  was  of  independent  fortune,  and  subsequently  took 
a  leading  part  with  those  opposed  to  the  party  that  had 
favored  the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  He  must  have 
known  Rebecca  Nurse  quite  intimately,  and  much  of 
the  influence  used  in  her  favor,  and  which  almost  saved 
her,  may  be  attributed  to  him  ;  there  was  a  particular 
intimacy  between  him  and  Increase  Mather,  and  to¬ 
gether  they  held  Cotton  Mather  somewhat  in  check, 
occasionally  at  least.  The  Rev.  Joshua  Moody  had 
been  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire.  In  the  maintenance  of  the  principles  of 
religious  liberty  he  suffered  a  long  imprisonment,  and 
was  afterwards  exiled  by  arbitrary  power.  He  was 
then  invited  to  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  where  he 
preached  from  1684  to  1693,  when  he  returned  to 
Portsmouth.  He  died  in  169T.  By  his  active  exer¬ 
tions,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  English  were  enabled  to  escape 
from  the  jail  at  Boston.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Willard, 
pastor  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  was  one  of 
the  most  revered  and  beloved  ministers  in  the  country. 
His  publications  were  numerous,  learned,  and  valuable ; 
consisting  of  discourses,  tracts,  and  \Tolumes.  His 
“  Body  of  Divinity  ”  is  an  elaborate  and  systematic 


310 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


work,  comprising  two  hundred  and  fifty  lectures  on  the 
Assembly’s  Catechism.  That  Procter  was  not  in  error 
in  supposing  Mr.  Willard  open  to  reason  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact,  that  the  “  afflicted 
girls  ”  were  beginning  to  cry  out  against  this  eminent 
divine.  The  Rev.  John  Bailey  was  one  of  the  ejected 
ministers  who  had  here  sought  refuge  from  oppression 
in  the  mother-country.  He  was  a  distinguished  per¬ 
son,  associated  with  Mr.  Allen  and  Mr.  Moody  in 
the  ministry  of  the  First  Church  at  Boston.  Cotton 
Mather  made  him  the  subject  of  the  strongest  eulo- 
gium  in  his  “  Magnalia.”  Procter  addressed  his  letter 
to  these  persons  because  he  believed  them  to  he  su¬ 
perior  in  wisdom  and  candid  in  spirit.  It  cannot  he 
doubted  that  the  good  men  did  what  they  could  in 
his  behalf,  but  in  vain. 


“  Salem  Prison,  July  23,  1692. 

“  Mr.  Matlicr ,  Mr.  Allen ,  Mr.  Moody ,  Mr.  Willard ,  and 

Mr.  Bailey. 

“  Reverend  Gentlemen,  —  The  innocency  of  our  case, 
with  the  enmity  of  our  accusers  and  our  judges  and  jury, 
•whom  nothing  but  our  innocent  blood  will  serve,  having  con¬ 
demned  us  already  before  our  trials,  being  so  much  incensed 
and  enraged  against  us  by  the  Devil,  makes  us  bold  to  beg 
and  implore  your  favorable  assistance  of  this  our  humble 
petition  to  His  Excellency,  that  if  it  be  possible  our  innocent 
blood  may  be  spared,  which  undoubtedly  otherwise  will  be 
shed,  if  the  Lord  doth  not  mercifully  step  in  ;  the  magis¬ 
trates,  ministers,  juries,  and  all  the  people  in  general,  being 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


311 


so  much  enraged  and  incensed  against  us  by  the  delusion  of 
the  Devil,  which  we  can  term  no  other,  by  reason  we  know, 
in  our  own  consciences,  we  are  all  innocent  persons.  Here 
are  five  persons  who  have  lately  confessed  themselves  to  be 
witches,  and  do  accuse  some  of  us  of  being  along  with  them 
at  a  sacrament,  since  we  were  committed  into  close  prison, 
which  we  know  to  he  lies.  Two  of  the  five  are  (Carrier’s 
sons)  young  men,  who  would  not  confess  any  thing  till  they 
tied  them  neck  and  heels,  till  the  blood  was  ready  to  come 
out  of  their  noses;  and  it  is  credibly  believed  and  reported 
this  was  the  occasion  of  making  them  confess  what  they 
never  did,  by  reason  they  said  one  had  been  a  witch  a 
month,  and  another  five  weeks,  and  that  their  mother  made 
them  so,  who  has  been  confined  here  this  nine  weeks.  My 
son,  William  Procter,  when  he  was  examined,  because  he 
would  not  confess  that  he  was  guilty,  when  he  was  innocent, 
they  tied  him  neck  and  heels  till  the  blood  gushed  out  at  his 
nose,  and  would  have  kept  him  so  twenty-four  hours,  if  one, 
more  merciful  than  the  rest,  had  not  taken  pity  on  him,  and 
caused  him  to  be  unbound. 

“  These  actions  are  very  like  the  Popish  cruelties.  They 
have  already  undone  us  in  our  estates,  and  that  will  not 
serve  their  turns  without  our  innocent  blood.  If  it  cannot 
be  granted  that  we  can  have  our  trials  at  Boston,  we  humbly 
beg  that  you  would  endeavor  to  have  these  magistrates 
changed,  and  others  in  their  room  ;  begging  also  and  be¬ 
seeching  you,  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  be  here,  if  not 
all,  some  of  you,  at  our  trials,  hoping  thereby  you  may  be 
the  means  of  saving  the  shedding  of  our  innocent  blood. 
Desiring  your  prayers  to  the  Lord  in  our  behalf,  tve  rest, 
your  poor  afflicted  servants, 


“John  Procter  [and  others].” 


312 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  bitterness  of  the  prosecutors  against  Procter 
was  so  vehement,  that  they  not  only  arrested,  and  tried 
to  destroy,  his  wife  and  all  his  family  above  the  age  of 
infancy,  in  Salem,  but  all  her  relatives  in  Lynn,  many 
of  whom  were  thrown  into  prison.  The  helpless 
children  were  left  destitute,  and  the  house  swept  of 
its  provisions  by  the  sheriff.  Procter’s  wife  gave 
birth  to  a  child,  about  a  fortnight  after  his  execution. 
This  indicates  to  what  alone  she  owed  her  life. 

John  Procter  bad  spoken  so  boldly  against  the  pro¬ 
ceedings,  and  all  who  had  part  in  them,  that  it  was 
felt  to  be  necessary  to  put  him  out  of  the  way.  He 
had  denounced  the  entire  company  of  the  accusers,  and 
their  revenge  demanded  his  sacrifice.  They  brought 
the  whole  power  of  their  cunning  and  audacious  arts 
to  bear  against  him,  and  pursued  him  to  the  death 
with  violence  and  rage.  The  manly  and  noble  deport¬ 
ment  exhibited  in  his  dying  hour  seems  to  have  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  minds  of  some,  and  gave 
an  effectual  blow  to  the  delusion.  The  descendants 
of  John  Procter  have  always  understood  that  his  re¬ 
mains  were  recovered  from  the  spot  where  the  hang¬ 
man  deposited  them,  and  placed  in  his  own  grounds, 
where  they  rest  to-day. 

No  account  has  come  to  us  of  the  deportment  of 
George  Jacobs,  Sr.,  at  his  execution.  As  he  was  re¬ 
markable  in  life  for  the  firmness  of  his  mind,  so  he 
probably  was  in  death.  He  had  made  his  will  before 
the  delusion  arose.  It  is  dated  Jan.  29,  1692  ;  and 
shows  that  he,  like  Procter,  had  a  considerable  estate. 


ouru U2 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


315 


Bartholomew  Gedney  is  one  of  the  attesting  witnesses, 
and  probably  wrote  the  document.  After  his  convic¬ 
tion,  on  the  12th  of  August,  he  caused  another  to  be 
written,  which,  in  its  provisions,  reflects  light  upon  the 
state  of  mind  produced  by  the  condition  in  which  lie 
found  himself.  In  his  infirm  old  age,  he  had  been  con¬ 
demned  to  die  for  a  crime  of  which  he  knew  himself 
innocent,  and  which  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  he 
did  not  think  any  one  capable  of  committing.  He  re¬ 
garded  the  whole  thing  as  a  wicked  conspiracy  and 
absurd  fabrication.  He  had  to  end  his  longlife  upon  a 
scaffold  in  a  week  from  that  day.  His  house  was  deso¬ 
lated,  and  his  property  sequestered.  His  only  son, 
charged  with  the  same  crime,  had  eluded  the  sheriff, 
—  leaving  his  family,  in  the  hurry  of  his  flight,  unpro¬ 
vided  for  —  and  was  an  exile  in  foreign  lands.  The 
crazy  wife  of  that  son  was  in  prison  and  in  chains, 
waiting  trial  on  the  same  charge ;  her  little  children, 
including  an  unweaned  infant,  left  in  a  deserted  and 
destitute  condition  in  the  woods.  The  older  children 
were  scattered,  he  knew  not  where,  while  one  of  them 
had  completed  the  bitterness  of  his  lot  by  becoming 
a  confessor,  upon  being  arrested  with  her  mother  as  a 
witch.  This  grand-daughter,  Margaret,  overwhelmed 
with  fright  and  horror,  bewildered  by  the  statements 
of  the  accusers,  and  controlled  probably  by  the  ar¬ 
guments  and  arbitrary  methods  of  address  employed  by 
her  minister,  Mr.  Noyes,  —  whose  peculiar  function  in 
these  proceedings  seems  to  have  been  to  drive  persons 
accused  to  make  confession  —  had  been  betrayed  into 


316 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


that  position,  and  became  a  confessor,  and  accuser  of 
others.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  old  man  made 
a  will,  giving  to  his  son  George  his  estates,  and  secur¬ 
ing  the  succession  of  them  to  his  male  descendants. 
But,  in  the  mean  while,  without  his  then  knowing 
it,  Margaret  had  recalled  her  confession,  as  appears 
from  the  following  documents,  which  tell  their  own 
story :  — 

“  The  Humble  Declaration  of  Margaret  Jacobs  unto  the 
Honored  Court  now  sitting  at  Salem  showeth,  that,  whereas 
your  poor  and  humble  declarant,  being  closely  confined 
here  in  Salem  jail  for  the  crime  of  witchcraft,  —  which 
crime,  thanks  be  to  the  Lord  !  I  am  altogether  ignorant  of, 
as  will  appear  at  the  great  day  of  judgment,  —  may  it  please 
the  honored  Court,  I  was  cried  out  upon  by  some  of  the 
possessed  persons  as  afflicting  them ;  whereupon  I  was 
brought  to  my  examination  ;  which  persons  at  the  sight  of 
me  fell  down,  which  did  very  much  startle  and  affright  me. 
The  Lord  above  knows  I  knew  nothing  in  the  least  measure 
how  or  who  afflicted  them.  They  told  me,  without  doubt  I 
did,  or  else  they  would  not  fall  down  at  me  ;  they  told  me,  if 
I  would  not  confess,  I  should  be  put  down  into  the  dungeon, 
and  would  be  hanged,  but,  if  I  would  confess,  I  should 
have  my  life  :  the  which  did  so  affright  me,  with  my  own 
vile,  wicked  heart,  to  save  my  life,  made  me  make  the  like 
confession  I  did,  which  confession,  may  it  please  the  honored 
Court,  is  altogether  false  and  untrue.  The  very  first  night 
after  I  had  made  confession,  I  was  in  such  horror  of  con¬ 
science  that  I  could  not  sleep,  for  fear  the  Devil  should  carry 
me  away  for  telling  such  horrid  lies.  I  was,  may  it  please 
the  honored  Court,  sworn  to  my  confession,  as  I  understand 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


317 


since  ;  but  then,  at  that  time,  was  ignorant  of  it,  not  knowing 
what  an  oath  did  mean.  The  Lord,  I  hope,  in  whom  I 
trust,  out  of  the  abundance  of  his  mercy,  will  forgive  me 
my  false  forswearing  myself.  What  I  said  was  altogether 
false  against  my  grandfather  and  Mr.  Burroughs,  which  I 
did  to  save  my  life,  and  to  have  my  liberty :  but  the  Lord, 
charging  it  to  my  conscience,  made  me  in  so  much  horror, 
that  I  could  not  contain  myself  before  I  had  denied  my  con¬ 
fession,  which  I  did,  though  I  saw  nothing  but  death  before 
me  ;  choosing  rather  death  with  a  quiet  conscience,  than  to 
live  in  such  horror,  which  I  could  not  suffer.  Where,  upon 
my  denying  my  confession,  I  was  committed  to  close  prison, 
where  I  have  enjoyed  more  felicity  in  spirit,  a  thousand 
times,  than  I  did  before  in  my  enlargement.  And  now, 
may  it  please  Your  Honors,  your  declarant  having  in  part 
given  Your  Honors  a  description  of  my  condition,  do  leave  it 
to  Your  Honors’  pious  and  judicious  discretions  to  take  pity 
and  compassion  on  my  young  and  tender  years,  to  act  and 
do  with  me  as  the  Lord  above  and  Your  Honors  shall  see 
good,  having  no  friend  but  the  Lord  to  plead  my  cause  for 
me  ;  not  being  guilty,  in  the  least  measure,  of  the  crime  of 
witchcraft,  nor  any  other  sin  that  deserves  death  from  man. 
And  your  poor  and  humble  declarant  shall  for  ever  pray,  as 
she  is  bound  in  duty,  for  Your  Honors’  happiness  in  this  life, 
and  eternal  felicity  in  the  world  to  come.  So  prays  Your 
Honors’  declarant, 

Margaret  Jacobs.” 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  this  same  young 
person  to  her  father.  Let  it  be  observed  that  her 
grandfather  had  been  executed  the  day  before,  partly 
upon  her  false  testimony. 


318 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  From  the  Dungeon  in  Salem  Prison. 

“  August  20,  1692. 

“  Honored  Father,  —  After  my  humble  duty  remem¬ 
bered  to  you,  hoping  in  the  Lord  of  your  good  health,  as, 
blessed  be  God!  I  enjoy,  though  in  abundance  of  affliction, 
beiim  close  confined  here  in  a  loathsome  dungeon  :  the  Lord 

O  O 

look  down  in  mercy  upon  me,  not  knowing  how  soon  I  shall 
be  put  to  death,  by  means  of  the  afflicted  persons  ;  my 
grandfather  having  suffered  already,  and  all  his  estate 
seized  for  the  king.  The  reason  of  my  confinement  is  this  : 
I  having,  through  the  magistrates’  threateniugs,  and  my  own 
vile  and  wretched  heart,  confessed  several  things  contrary 
to  my  conscience  and  knowledge,  though  to  the  wounding  of 
my  own  soul ;  (the  Lord  pardon  me  for  it !)  but,  oh  !  the  ter¬ 
rors  of  a  wounded  conscience  who  can  bear  ?  But,  blessed 
be  the  Lord  !  he  would  not  let  me  go  on  in  my  sins,  but  in 
mercy,  I  hope,  to  my  soul,  would  not  suffer  me  to  keep  it 
any  longer :  but  I  was  forced  to  confess  the  truth  of  all  be¬ 
fore  the  magistrates,  who  would  not  believe  me ;  but  it  is 
their  pleasure  to  put  me  in  here,  and  God  knows  how  soon 
I  shall  be  put  to  death.  Dear  father,  let  me  beg  your 
prayers  to  the  Lord  on  my  behalf,  and  send  us  a  joyful  and 
happy  meeting  in  heaven.  My  mother,  poor  woman,  is  very 
crazy,  and  remembers  her  kind  love  to  you,  and  to  uncle  ; 
viz.,  D.  A.  So,  leaving  you  to  the  protection  of  the  Lord, 
I  rest,  your  dutiful  daughter,  Margaret  Jacobs.” 

A  temporary  illness  led  to  the  postponement  of  her 
trial ;  and,  before  the  next  sitting  of  the  Court,  the 
delusion  had  passed  away. 

The  “  uncle  D.  A.,”  referred  to,  was  Daniel  An¬ 
drew,  their  nearest  neighbor,  who  had  escaped  at  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


319 


same  time  with  her  father.  She  calls  him  “  uncle.” 
He  was,  it  is  probable,  a  brother  of  John  Andrew  who 
had  married  Ann  Jacobs,  sister  of  her  father.  Words 
of  relationship  were  then  used  with  a  wide  sense. 

Margaret  read  the  recantation  of  her  confession 
before  the  Court,  and  was,  as  she  says,  forthwith 
ordered  by  them  into  a  dungeon.  SI1.0  obtained  per¬ 
mission  to  visit  Mr.  Burroughs  the  day  before  his 
execution,  acknowledged  that  she  had  belied  him, 
and  implored  his  forgiveness.  He  freely  forgave,  and 
prayed  with  her  and  for  her.  It  is  probable,  that, 
at  the  same  time,  she  obtained  an  interview  with  her 
grandfather  for  the  same  purpose.  At  any  rate,  the 
old  man  heard  of  her  heroic  conduct,  and  forthwith 
crowded  into  the  space  between  two  paragraphs  in 
his  Avill,  in  small  letters  closely  written  (the  jailer 
probably  being  the  amanuensis),  a  clause  giving  a  leg¬ 
acy  of  “ten  pounds  to  be  paid  in  silver”  to  his  grand¬ 
daughter,  Margaret  Jacobs.  There  is  the  usual  dec¬ 
laration,  that  it  “  was  inserted  before  sealing  and 
signing.”  This  will  having  been  made  after  con¬ 
viction  and  sentence  to  death,  and  having  but  two 
witnesses,  one  besides  the  jailer,  was  not  allowed  in 
Probate,  but  remains  among  the  files  of  that  Court. 
As  a  link  in  the  foregoing  story,  it  is  an  interesting 
relic.  The  legacy  clause,  although  not  operative,  was 
no  doubt  of  inexpressible  value  to  the  feelings  of  Mar¬ 
garet  :  and  the  circumstance  seems  to  have  touched 
the  heart  even  of  the  General  Court,  nearly  twenty 
years  afterwards ;  for  they  took  pains  specifically  to 


320 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


I 


provide  to  have  the  same  sum  paid  to  Margaret,  out 
of  the  Province  treasury. 

She  was  not  tried  at  the  time  appointed,  in  conse¬ 
quence,  it  is  stated,  of  “  an  imposthume  in  the  head,” 
and  finally  escaped  the  fate  to  which  she  chose  to 
consign  herself,  rather  than  remain  under  a  violated 
conscience.  In  judging  of  her,  we  cannot  fail  to  make 
allowance  for  her  “  young  and  tender  years,”  and  to 
sympathize  in  the  sufferings  through  which  she  passed. 
In  making  confession,  and  in  accusing  others,  she  had 
done  that  which  filled  her  heart  with  horror,  in  the 
retrospect,  so  long  as  she  lived.  In  recanting  it,  and 
giving  her  body  to  the  dungeon,  and  offering  her  life 
at  the  scaffold,  she  had  secured  the  forgiveness  of 
Mr.  Burroughs  and  her  aged  grandfather,  and  de¬ 
serves  our  forgiveness  and  admiration.  Every  human 
heart  must  rejoice  that  this  young  girl  was  saved. 
She  lived  to  be  a  worthy  matron  and  the  founder 
of  a  numerous  and  respectable  family. 

George  Jacobs,  Sr.,  is  the  only  one,  among  the  vic¬ 
tims  of  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  the  precise  spot  of 
whose  burial  is  absolutely  ascertained. 

The  tradition  has  descended  through  the  family,  that 
the  body,  after  having  been  obtained  at  the  place  of 
execution,  was  strapped  by  a  young  grandson  on  the 
back  of  a  horse,  brought  home  to  the  farm,  and  buried 
beneath  the  shade  of  his  own  trees.  Two  sunken 
and  weather-worn  stones  marked  the  spot.  There  the 
remains  rested  until  1864,  when  they  were  exhumed. 
They  were  enclosed  again,  and  reverently  redeposited 


TIIE  JACOBS  HOUSE. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


821 


in  the  same  place.  The  skull  was  in  a  state  of  con¬ 
siderable  preservation.  An  examination  of  the  jaw¬ 
bones  showed  that  he  was  a  very  old  man  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  and  had  previously  lost  all  his  teeth.  The 
length  of  some  parts  of  the  skeleton  showed  that  he  was 
a  very  tall  man.  These  circumstances  corresponded 
with  the  evidence,  which  was  that  he  was  tall  of  stat¬ 
ure  ;  so  infirm  as  to  walk  with  two  staffs ;  with  long, 
flowing  white  hair.  The  only  article  found,  except  the 
bones,  was  a  metallic  pin,  which  might  have  been  used 
as  a  breastpin,  or  to  hold  together  his  aged  locks.  It 
is  an  observable  fact,  that  he  rests  in  his  own  ground 
still.  He  had  lived  for  a  great  length  of  time  on  that 
spot ;  and  it  remains  in  his  family  and  in  his  name 
to  this  day,  having  come  down  by  direct  descent.  It  is 
a  beautiful  locality:  the  land  descends  with  a  gradual 
and  smooth  declivity  to  the  bank  of  the  river.  It  is 
not  much  more  than  a  mile  from  the  city  of  Salem, 
and  in  full  view  from  the  main  road. 

John  Willard  appears  to  have  been  an  honest  and 
amiable  person,  an  industrious  farmer,  having  a  com¬ 
fortable  estate,  with  a  wife  and  three  young  children. 
He  was  a  grandson  of  Old  Bray  Wilkins  ;  whether  by 
blood  or  marriage,  I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain. 
The  indications  are  that  he  married  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  or  Henry  Wilkins,  most  probably  the  former, 
with  both  of  whom  he  was  a  joint  possessor  of  lands. 
He  came  from  Groton  ;  and  it  is  for  local  antiqua¬ 
ries  to  discover  whether  he  was  a  relative  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Willard  of  Boston.  If  so,  the  fact  would 

YOL.  II.  21 


822 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


shed  much  light  upon  our  story.  There  is  but  one 
piece  of  evidence  among  the  papers  relating  to  his 
trial  that  deserves  particular  notice.  It  shows  the 
horrid  character  of  the  charges  made  by  the  girls 
against  prisoners  at  the  bar,  from  their  nature  inca¬ 
pable  of  being  refuted  and  which  the  prisoners  knew 
to  be  false,  but  the  Court,  jury,  and  crowd  implicitly 
believed.  It  also  illustrates  the  completeness  of  the 
machinery  got  up  by  the  “  accusing  girls  ”  to  give 
effect  to  their  evidence.  In  addition  to  the  evil  gossip 
that  could  be  scoured  from  all  the  country  round, 
and  to  spectres  of  witches  and  ghosts  of  the  dead, 
they  brought  into  the  scene  angels  and  divine  beings, 
and  testified  to  what  they  were  told  by  them.  “  The 
shining  man,”  or  the  white  man,  was  meant,  in  the  fol¬ 
lowing  deposition,  to  be  a  spirit  of  this  description  :  — 

“The  Testimony  of  Susanna  Sheldon,  aged  eighteen 
years  or  thereabouts.  —  Testifieth  and  saith,  that,  the  day  of 
the  date  hereof  (9th  of  May,  1G92),  I  saw  at  Nathaniel  Inger- 
soll’s  house  the  apparitions  of  these  four  persons,  —  William 
Shaw’s  first  wife,  the  Widow  Cook,  Goodman  Jones  and 
his  child ;  and  among  these  came  the  apparition  of  John 
Willard,  to  whom  these  four  said,  ‘You  have  murdered  us.’ 
These  four  having  said  thus  to  Willard,  they  turned  as  red 
as  blood.  And,  turning  about  to  look  at  me,  they  turned  as 
pale  as  death.  These  four  desired  me  to  tell  Mr.  Hathorne. 
Willard,  hearing  them,  pulled  out  a  knife,  saying,  if  I  did, 
he  would  cut  my  throat.” 

The  deponent  goes  on  to  say,  that  these  several 
apparitions  came  before  her  on  another  occasion,  and 
the  same  language  and  actions  took  place,  and  adds :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


323 


“  There  did  appear  to  me  a  shining  man,  who  said  I 
should  go  and  tell  what  I  had  heard  and  seen  to  Mr. 
Hathorne.  This  Willard,  being  there  present,  told  me,  if  I 
did,  he  would  cut  my  throat.  At  this  time  and  place,  this 
shining  man  told  me,  that  if  I  did  go  to  tell  this  to  Mr. 
Hathorne,  that  I  should  be  well,  going  and  coming,  but  I 
should  be  afflicted  there.  Then  said  I  to  the  shining  man, 
‘  Hunt  Willard  away,  and  I  would  believe  what  he  said,  that 
he  might  not  choke  me.’  With  that  the  shining  man  held 
up  his  hand,  and  Willard  vanished  away.  About  two  hours 
after,  the  same  appeared  to  me  again,  and  the  said  Willard 
with  them ;  and  I  asked  them  where  their  wounds  were, 
and  they  said  there  would  come  an  angel  from  heaven,  and 
would  show  them.  And  forthwith  the  angel  came.  I 
asked  what  the  man’s  name  was  that  appeared  to  me  last, 
and  the  angel  told  his  name  was  Southwick.  And  the  angel 
lifted  up  his  winding-sheet,  and  out  of  his  left  side  he  pulled 
a  pitchfork  tine,  and  put  it  in  again,  and  likewise  he  opened 
all  the  winding-sheets,  and  showed  all  their  wounds.  And 
the  white  man  told  me  to  tell  Mr.  Hathorne  of  it,  and  I 
told  him  to  hunt  Willard  away,  and  I  would ;  and  he  held 
up  his  hand,  and  he  vanished  away.” 

In  the  same  deposition,  this  girl  testifies  that  “  she 
saw  this  Willard  suckle  the  apparitions  of  two  black 
pigs  on  his  breasts ;  ”  that  Willard  told  her  he  had 
been  a  witch  twenty  years  ;  that  she  saw  Willard 
and  other  wizards  kneel  in  prayer  “  to  the  black 
man  with  a  long-crowned  hat,  and  then  they  vanished 
away.” 

Such  was  the  kind  of  testimony  which  the  Court 
received  with  awe-struck  and  bewildered  credulity, 


324 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


and  which  took  away  the  lives  of  valuable  and  blame¬ 
less  men.  All  we  know  of  the  manner  of  Willard’s 
death  is  a  passage  from  Brattle,  who  states  that  a  deep 
impression  was  produced  by  the  admirable  deportment 
of  the  sufferers  during  the  awful  scenes  before  and  at 
their  executions ;  giving  every  evidence  of  conscious 
innocence  and  a  Christian  character  and  faith,  on  the 
part  especially  of  “  Procter  and  Willard,  whose  whole 
management  of  themselves  from  the  jail  to  the  gal¬ 
lows,  and  whilst  at  the  gallows,  was  very  affecting,  and 
melting  to  the  hearts  of  some  considerable  spectators 
whom  I  could  mention  to  you :  but  they  are  executed, 
and  so  I  leave  them.” 

On  the  9th  of  September,  the  Court  met  again ;  and 
Martha  Corey ,  Mary  JEasty ,  Alice  Parker ,  Ann  Pudea- 
tor,  Dorcas  Hoar,  and  Mary  Bradbury  were  tried  and 
condemned  ;  and,  on  the  17th,  Margaret  Scott ,  Wilmot 
Reed ,  Samuel  War  dwell ,  Mary  Parker ,  Abigail  Faulk¬ 
ner,  Rebecca  Eames,  Mary  Lacy,  Ann  Foster,  and 
Abigail  Hobbs  received  the  same  sentence.  Those  in 
Italics  were  executed  Sept.  22,  1692.  Of  the  circum¬ 
stances  in  relation  to  them,  in  reference  to  their  death 
and  at  the  time  of  their  execution,  but  little  infor¬ 
mation  has  reached  us.  The  following  extract  from 
Mr.  Parris’s  church-records  presents  a  striking  pic¬ 
ture  :  — 

“11  September,  Lord’s  Day.  —  Sister  Martha  Corey  — 
taken  into  the  church  27  April,  1690  —  was,  after  examina¬ 
tion  upon  suspicion  of  witchcraft,  27  March,  1692,  com¬ 
mitted  to  prison  for  that  fact,  and  was  condemned  to  the 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


325 


gallows  for  the  same  yesterday  ;  and  was  this  day  in  public, 
by  a  general  consent,  voted  to  be  excommunicated  out  of  the 
church,  and  Lieutenant  Nathaniel  Putnam  and  the  two  dea¬ 
cons  chosen  to  signify  to  her,  with  the  pastor,  the  mind  of 
the  church  herein.  Accordingly,  this  14  September,  1692, 
the  three  aforesaid  brethren  went  with  the  pastor  to  her  in 
Salem  Prison;  whom  we  found  very  obdurate,  justifying 
herself,  and  condemning  all  that  had  done  any  thing  to  her 
just  discovery  or  condemnation.  Whereupon,  after  a  little 
discourse  (for  her  imperiousness  would  not  suffer  much), 
and  after  prayer,  —  which  she  was  willing  to  decline,  — 
the  dreadful  sentence  of  excommunication  was  pronounced 
against  her.” 


Calef  informs  us,  that  “  Martha  Corey,  protesting 
her  innocency,  concluded  her  life  with  an  eminent 
prayer  upon  the  ladder.’5 

Nothing  has  reached  us  particularly  relating  to  the 
manner  of  death  of  Alice  or  Mary  Parker,  Ann  Pude- 
ator,  Margaret  Scott,  or  Wilmot  Reed.  They  all  as¬ 
serted  their  innocence  ;  and  their  deportment  gave  no 
ground  for  any  unfavorable  comment  by  their  persecu¬ 
tors,  who  were  on  the  watch  to  turn  every  act,  word, 
or  look  of  the  sufferers  to  their  disparagement.  Wil¬ 
mot  Reed  probably  adhered  to  the  unresisting  demea¬ 
nor  which  marked  her  examination.  It  was  all  a 
mystery  to  her ;  and  to  every  question  she  answered, 
“  I  know  nothing  about  it.”  Of  Mary  Easty  it  is 
grateful  to  have  some  account.  Her  own  declarations 
in  vindication  of  her  innocence  are  fortunately  pre¬ 
served  ;  and  her  noble  record  is  complete  in  the  fol- 


326 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


lowing  documents.  The  first  appears  to  have  been 
addressed  to  the  Special  Court,  and  was  presented 
immediately  before  the  trial  of  Mary  Easty.  No  ex¬ 
planation  has  come  down  to  us  why  Sarah  Cloyse  was 
not  then  also  brought  to  trial.  Circumstances  to 
which  we  have  no  clew  rescued  her  from  the  fate  of 
her  sisters. 

“  The  Humble  Bequest  of  Mary  Easty  and  Sarah  Cloyse 
to  the  Honored  Court  humbly  showeth ,  that,  'whereas  we  two 
sisters,  Mary  Easty  and  Sarah  Cloyse,  stand  now  before  the 
honored  Court  charged  with  the  suspicion  ©f  witchcraft,  our 
humble  request  is  —  First,  that,  seeing  we  are  neither  able  to 
plead  our  own  cause,  nor  is  counsel  allowed  to  those  in  our 
condition,  that  you  who  are  our  judges  would  please  to  be 
of  counsel  to  us,  to  direct  us  wherein  we  may  stand  in  need. 
Secondly,  that,  whereas  Ave  are  not  conscious  to  ourselves  of 
any  guilt  in  the  least  degree  of  that  crime  Avhereof  we  are 
now  accused  (in  the  presence  of  the  living  God  we  speak 
it,  before  whose  aAvful  tribunal  Ave  knoAV  Ave  shall  ere  long 
appear),  nor  of  any  other  scandalous  evil  or  miscarriage 
inconsistent  Avith  Christianity,  those  Avho  have  had  the  long¬ 
est  and  best  knoAvledge  of  us,  being  persons  of  good  report, 
may  be  suffered  to  testify  upon  oath  Avhat  they  Icuoav  con¬ 
cerning  each  of  us  ;  viz.,  Mr.  Capen,  the  pastor,  and  those 
of  the  town  and  church  of  Topsfield,  Avho  are  ready  to  say 
something  Avliich  we  hope  may  be  looked  upon  as  very  con¬ 
siderable  in  this  matter,  with  the  seven  children  of  one  of 
us  ;  viz.,  Mary  Easty :  and  it  may  be  produced  of  like  na¬ 
ture  in  reference  to  the  Avife  of  Peter  Cloyse,  her  sister. 
Thirdly,  that  the  testimony  of  witches,  or  such  as  are  af¬ 
flicted  as  is  supposed  by  witches,  may  not  be  improved  to 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


327 


condemn  us  without  other  legal  evidence  concurring.  We 
hope  the  honored  Court  aud  jury  will  be  so  tender  of  the 
lives  of  such  as  we  are,  who  have  for  many  years  lived 
under  the  unblemished  reputation  of  Christianity,  as  not  to 
condemn  them  without  a  fair  and  equal  hearing  of  what 
may  be  said  for  us  as  well  as  against  us.  And  your  poor 
suppliants  shall  be  bound  always  to  pray,  &c.” 

The  following  was  presented  by  Mary  Easty  to  the 
judges  after  she  had  received  sentence  of  death.  It 
would  be  hard  to  find,  in  all  the  records  of  human  suf¬ 
fering  and  of  Christian  deportment  under  them,  a 
more  affecting  production.  It  is  a  most  beautiful 
specimen  of  strong  good-sense,  pious  fortitude  and 
faith,  genuine  dignity  of  soul,  noble  benevolence,  and 
the  true  eloquence  of  a  pure  heart ;  and  was  evidently 
composed  by  her  own  hand.  It  may  be  said  of  her  — 
and  there  can  be  no  higher  eulogium  —  that  she  felt 
for  others  more  than  for  herself. 

“  The  Humble  Petition  of  Mary  Easty  unto  his  Excel¬ 
lency  Sir  William  Phips ,  and  to  the  Honored  Judge  and 
Bench  now  sitting  in  Judicature  in  Salem ,  and  the  Reverend 
Ministers ,  humbly  shoiveth,  that,  whereas  your  poor  and 
humble  petitioner,  being  condemned  to  die,  do  humbly  beg 
of  you  to  take  it  in  your  judicious  and  pious  consideration, 
that  your  poor  and  humble  petitioner,  kuowing  my  own 
innocency,  blessed  be  the  Lord  for  it !  and  seeing  plainly  the 
wiles  aud  subtilty  of  my  accusers  by  myself,  cannot  but 
judge  charitably  of  others  that  are  going  the  same  wray  of 
myself,  if  the  Lord  steps  not  mightily  in.  I  was  confined  a 
whole  mouth  upon  the  same  account  that  I  am  condemned 


328 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


now  for,  and  then  cleared  by  the  afflicted  persons,  as  some 
of  Your  Honors  know.  And  in  two  days’  time  I  was  cried 
out  upon  them,  and  have  been  confined,  and  now  am  con¬ 
demned  to  die.  The  Lord  above  knows  my  innocency  then, 
and  likewise  does  now,  as  at  the  great  day  will  be  known 
to  men  and  angels.  I  petition  to  Your  Honors  not  for  my 
own  life,  for  I  know  I  must  die,  and  my  appointed  time  is 
set;  but  the  Lord  he  knows  it  is  that,  if  it  be  possible,  no 
more  innocent  blood  may  be  shed,  which  undoubtedly  cannot 
be  avoided  in  the  way  and  course  you  go  in.  I  question 
not  but  Your  Honors  do  to  the  utmost  of  your  powders  in  the 
discovery  and  detecting  of  witchcraft  and  witches,  and  would 
not  be  guilty  of  innocent  blood  for  the  world.  But,  by  my 
own  innocency,  I  know  you  are  in  the  wrong  way.  The 
Lord  in  his  infinite  mercy  direct  you  in  this  great  work,  if 
it  be  his  blessed  will  that  no  more  innocent  blood  be  shed ! 
I  would  humbly  beg  of  you,  that  Your  Honors  would  be 
pleased  to  examine  these  afflicted  persons  strictly,  and  keep 
them  apart  some  time,  and  likewise  to  try  some  of  these 
confessing  witches  ;  I  being  confident  there  is  several  of  them 
has  belied  themselves  and  others,  as  will  appear,  if  not  in 
this  world,  I  am  sure  in  the  world  to  come,  whither  I  am  now 
agoing.  I  question  not  but  you  will  see  an  alteration  of  these 
things.  They  say  myself  and  others  having  made  a  league 
with  the  Devil,  we  cannot  confess.  I  know,  and  the  Lord 
knows,  as  will  .  .  .  appear,  they  belie  me,  and  so  I  question 
not  but  they  do  others.  The  Lord  above,  who  is  the  Searcher 
of  all  hearts,  knows,  as  I  shall  answer  it  at  the  tribunal 
seat,  that  I  know  not  the  least  thing  of  witchcraft ;  therefore 
I  cannot,  I  dare  not,  belie  my  own  soul.  I  beg  Your  Honors 
not  to  deny  this  my  humble  petition  from  a  poor,  dying, 
innocent  person.  And  I  question  not  but  the  Lord  will  give 
a  blessing  to  your  endeavors.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


329 


The  parting  interview  of  this  admirable  woman  with 
her  husband,  children,  and  friends,  as  she  was  about 
proceeding  to  the  place  of  execution,  is  said  to  have 
been  a  most  solemn,  affecting,  and  truly  sublime  scene. 
Calef  says  that  her  farewell  communications,  on  this 
occasion,  were  reported,  by  persons  who  listened  to 
them,  to  have  been  “  as  serious,  religious,  distinct, 
and  affectionate  as  could  well  be  expressed,  drawing 
tears  from  the  eyes  of  almost  all  present.” 

Ann  Pudeator  had  been  formerly  the  wife  of  a  per¬ 
son  named  Greenslitt,  who  left  her  with  five  children. 
Her  subsequent  husband,  Jacob  Pudeator,  died  in 
1682,  and  by  will  gave  her  his  whole  estate,  after  the 
payment  of  legacies,  of  five  pounds  each,  to  her  Green¬ 
slitt  children,  who  appear  to  have  been  living  in  1692 
at  Casco  Bay.  These  provisions,  as  well  as  the  ex¬ 
pressions  used  by  Pudeator,  indicate  that  he  regarded 
her  with  affection  and  esteem.  The  following  docu¬ 
ment  is  all  that  we  know  else  of  her  character  particu¬ 
larly,  except  that  she  was  a  kind  neighbor,  and  ever 
prompt  in  offices  of  charity  and  sympathy. 

“  The  Humble  Petition  of  Ann  Pudeator  unto  the  Honored 
Judge  and  Bench  now  sitting  in  Judicature  in  Salem ,  humbly 
showeth ,  that,  whereas  your  poor  and  humble  petitioner, 
being  condemned  to  die,  and  knowing  in  my  own  conscience, 
as  I  shall  shortly  answer  it  before  the  great  God  of  heaven, 
who  is  the  Searcher  and  Knower  of  all  hearts,  that  the  evi¬ 
dence  of  Jno.  Best,  Sr.,  and  Jno.  Best,  Jr.,  and  Samuel 
Pickworth,  which  was  given  in  against  me  in  Court,  were 
all  of  them  altogether  false  and  untrue,  and,  besides  the 


330 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


abovesaid  Jno.  Best  hath  been  formerly  whipped  and  like¬ 
wise  is  recorded  for  a  liar.  I  would  humbly  beg  of  Your 
Honors  to  take  it  into  your  judicious  and  pious  considera¬ 
tion,  that  my  life  may  not  be  taken  away  by  such  false 
evidences  and  witnesses  as  these  be ;  likewise,  the  evidence 
given  in  against  me  by  Sarah  Churchill  and  Mary  Warren 
I  am  altogether  ignorant  of,  and  know  nothing  in  the  least 
measure  about  it,  nor  nothing  else  concerning  the  crime 
of  witchcraft,  for  which  I  am  condemned  to  die,  as  will  be 
known  to  men  and  angels  at  the  great  day  of  judgment. 
Begging  and  imploring  your  prayers  at  the  Throne  of  Grace 
in  my  behalf,  and  your  poor  and  humble  petitioner  shall  for 
ever  pray,  as  she  is  bound  in  duty,  for  Your  Honors’  health 
and  happiness  in  this  life,  and  eternal  felicity  in  the  world 
to  come.” 

Abigail,  the  wife  of  Francis  Faulkner,  and  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Francis  Dane,  of  Andover,  who  was  among 
those  sentenced  on  the  17th  of  September,  had  been 
examined,  on  the  11th  of  August,  by  Hatliorne,  Cor¬ 
win,  and  Captain  John  Higginson,  sitting  as  magis¬ 
trates.  Upon  the  prisoner’s  being  brought  in,  the 
afflicted  fell  down,  and  went  into  fits,  as  usual.  The 
magistrates  asked  the  prisoner  what  she  had  to  say. 
She  replied,  “  I  know  nothing  of  it.”  The  girls  then 
renewed  their  performances,  declaring  that  her  shape 
was  at  that  moment  torturing  them.  The  magistrates 
asked  her  if  she  did  not  see  their  sufferings.  She 
answered,  “  Yes ;  but  it  is  the  Devil  does  it  in  my 
shape.”  Ann  Putnam  said  that  her  spectre  had  afflict¬ 
ed  her  a  few  days  before,  pulling  her  off  her  horse. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


331 


Upon  the  touch  of  her  person,  the  sufferings  of  the 
afflicted  would  cease  for  a  time.  The  prisoner  held 
a  handkerchief  in  her  hand.  The  girls  would  screech 
out,  declaring  that,  as  she  pressed  the  handkerchief, 
they  were  dreadfully  squeezed.  She  threw  the  hand¬ 
kerchief  on  the  table ;  and  they  said,  “  There  are  the 
shapes  of  Daniel  Eames  and  Captain  Floyd  [two  per¬ 
sons  then  in  prison  on  the  charge  of  witchcraft]  sitting 
on  her  handkerchief.”  Mary  Warren  enacted  the  part 
of  being  dragged  against  her  will  under  the  table  by 
an  invisible  hand,  from  whose  grasp  she  was  at  once 
released,  upon  the  prisoner’s  being  made  to  touch  her. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  she  protested  her  innocence, 
and  was  remanded  to  jail.  On  the  30th,  she  was 
brought  out  again.  In  the  mean  while,  six  had  been 
executed.  The  usual  means  were  employed  to  break 
her  down ;  but  all  that  was  gained  was,  that  she 
owned  she  had  expressed  her  indignation  at  the  con¬ 
duct  of  the  afflicted,  and  was  much  excited  against 
them  “  for  bringing  her  kindred  out,  and  she  did 
wish  them  ill :  and,  her  spirit  being  raised,  she  did 
pinch  her  hands  together,  and  she  knew  not  but 
that  the  Devil  might  take  that  advantage  ;  but  it 
was  the  Devil,  and  not  she,  that  afflicted  them.” 
This  was  the  only  concession  she  would  make ;  and 
they  were  puzzled  to  determine  whether  it  was  a  con¬ 
fession,  or  not,  —  it  having  rather  the  appearance  of 
clearing  herself  from  all  implication  with  the  Devil, 
and  leaving  him  on  their  hands  —  at  any  rate,  they  con¬ 
cluded  to  regard  it  in  the  latter  sense ;  and  she  was 


332 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


duly  convicted,  and  sentenced  to  death.  Sir  William 
Pliips  ordered  a  reprieve ;  and,  after  she  had  been 
thirteen  weeks  in  prison,  he  directed  her  to  be  dis¬ 
charged  on  the  ground  of  insufficient  evidence.  This, 
I  think,  is  the  only  instance  of  a  special  pardon  granted 
during  the  proceedings. 

Samuel  Ward  well,  like  most  of  the  accused  belong¬ 
ing  to  Andover,  had  originally  joined  the  crowd  of 
the  confessors ;  but  he  was  too  much  of  a  man  to  re¬ 
main  in  that  company.  Ho  took  back  his  confession, 
and  met  his  death.  While  he  was  speaking  to  the 
people,  at  the  gallows,  declaring  his  innocency,  a  puff 
of  tobacco-smoke  from  the  pipe  of  the  executioner, 
as  Calef  informs  us,  “  coming  in  his  face,  interrupted 
his  discourse :  those  accusers  said  that  the  Devil  did 
hinder  him  with  smoke.”  The  wicked  creatures  fol¬ 
lowed  their  victims  to  the  last  with  their  malignant 
outrages.  The  cart  that  carried  the  prisoners,  on  this 
occasion,  to  the  hill,  “  was  for  some  time  at  a  set : 
the  afflicted  and  others  said  that  the  Devil  hindered 
it,”  &c. 

The  route  by  which  they  were  conveyed  from  the 
jail,  which  was  at  the  north  corner  of  Federal  and 
St.  Peter’s  Streets,  to  the  gallows,  must  have  been 
a  cruelly  painful  and  fatiguing  one,  particularly  to  in¬ 
firm  and  delicate  persons,  as  many  of  them  were.  It 
was  through  St.  Peter’s,  up  the  whole  length  of  Essex, 
and  thence  probably  along  Boston  Street,  far  towards 
Aborn  Street ;  for  the  hill  could  only  be  ascended  from 
that  direction.  It  must  have  been  a  rough  and  jolting 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


333 


operation  ;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  cart  got 
“  set.”  It  seems  that  the  prisoners  were  carried  in 
a  single  cart.  It  was  a  large  one,  provided  probably 
for  the  occasion  ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  reason 
why  some  who  had  been  condemned  were  not  exe¬ 
cuted,  was  that  the  cart  could  not  hold  them  all  at 
once.  They  were  executed,  one  in  June,  five  in  July, 
five  in  August,  and  eight  in  September,  with  the  in¬ 
tention,  no  doubt,  by  taking  them  in  instalments,  to 
extend  the  acts  of  the  tragedy,  from  month  to  month, 
indefinitely. 

It  was  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the  accusers  and 
prosecutors  to  prevent  a  revulsion  of  the  public  mind, 
or  even  the  least  diminution  of  the  popular  violence 
against  the  supposed  witches.  As  they  all  protested 
their  innocence  to  the  moment  of  death,  and  exhibited 
a  remarkably  Christian  deportment  throughout  the 
dreadful  scenes  they  were  called  to  encounter  from 
their  arrest  to  their  execution,  there  was  reason  to 
apprehend  that  the  people  would  gradually  be  led  to 
feel  a  sympathy  for  them,  if  not  to  entertain  doubts  of 
their  guilt.  To  prevent  this,  and  remove  any  impres¬ 
sions  favorable  to  them  that  might  be  made  by  the 
conduct  and  declarations  of  the  convicts,  the  prosecu¬ 
tors  were  on  the  alert.  After  the  prisoners  had  been 
swung  off,  on  the  22d  of  September,  “  turning  him  to 
the  bodies,  Mr.  Noyes  said,  ‘  What  a  sad  thing  it  is 
to  see  eight  firebrands  of  hell  hanging  there !  ”’  It 
was  the  last  time  his  eyes  were  regaled  by  such  a 
sight.  There  were  no  more  executions  on  Witch  Hill. 


334 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


Three  days  before,  a  life  had  been  taken  by  the 
officers  of  the  law  in  a  manner  so  extraordinary,  and 
marked  by  features  so  shocking,  that  they  find  no  par¬ 
allel  in  the  annals  of  -America,  and  will  continue  to 
arrest  for  ever  the  notice  of  mankind.  The  history 
and  character  of  old  Giles  Corey  have  been  given  in 
preceding  parts  of  this  work.  The  only  papers  relat¬ 
ing  to  him,  on  file  as  having  been  sworn  to  before  the 
Grand  Jury,  are  a  few  brief  depositions.  If  he  had 
been  put  on  trial,  we  might  have  had  more.  Elizabeth 
Woodwell  testifies,  that  “  she  saw  Giles  Corey  at  meet¬ 
ing  at  Salem  on  a  lecture-day,  since  he  has  been  in 
prison.  He  or  his  apparition  came  in,  and  sat  in  the 
middlemost  seat  of  the  men’s  seats,  by  the  post.  This 
was  the  lecture-day  before  Bridget  Bishop  was  hanged. 
And  I  saw  him  come  out  with  the  rest  of  the  people.” 
Mary  Walcot,  of  course,  swore  to  the  same.  And 
Mary  Warren  swore  that  Corey  was  hostile  to  her 
and  afflicted  her,  because  he  thought  she  “  caused  her 
master  (John  Procter)  to  ask  more  for  a  piece  of 
meadow  than  he  (Corey)  was  willing  to  give.”  She 
also  charged  him  with  “  afflicting  of  her”  by  his  spec¬ 
tre  while  he  was  in  prison,  and  “  described  him  in  all 
his  garments,  both  of  hat,  coat,  and  the  color  of  them, 
—  with  a  cord  about  his  waist  and  a  white  cap  on  his 
head,  and  in  chains.”  There  is  reason  to  believe, 
that,  while  in  prison,  lie  experienced  great  distress  of 
mind.  Although  he  had  been  a  rough  character  in 
earlier  life,  and  given  occasion  to  much  scandal  by  his 
disregard  of  public  opinion,  he  always  exhibited  symp- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


335 


toms  of  a  generous  and  sensitive  nature.  His  foolisli 
conduct  in  becoming  so  passionately  engaged  in  the 
witchcraft  proceedings,  at  tlieir  earliest  stage,  as  to  he 
incensed  against  his  wife  because  she  did  not  approve 
of  or  believe  in  them,  and  which  led  him  to  utter  sen¬ 
timents  and  expressions  that  had  been  used  against 
her ;  and  so  far  yielding  to  the  accusers  as  to  allow 
them  to  get  from  him  the  deposition,  which,  while  it 
failed  to  satisfy  their  demands,  it  was  shameful  for 
him  to  have  been  persuaded  to  give,  —  all  these  things, 
which  after  his  own  apprehension  and  imprisonment  he 
had  leisure  to  ponder  upon,  preyed  on  his  mind.  He 
saw  the  awful  character  of  the  delusion  to  which  he 
had  lent  himself;  that  it  had  brought  his  prayerful 
and  excellent  wife  to  the  sentence  of  death,  which  had 
already  been  executed  upon  many  other  devout  and 
worthy  persons.  He  knew  that  he  was  innocent  of  the 
crime  of  witchcraft,  and  was  now  satisfied  that  all 
others  were.  Besides  his  own  unfriendly  course  to¬ 
wards  his  wife,  two  of  his  four  sons-in-law  had  turned 
against  her.  One  (Crosby)  had  testified,  and  another 
(Parker)  had  allowed  his  name  to  be  used,  as  an  ad¬ 
verse  witness.  In  view  of  all  this,  Corey  made  up  his 
mind,  determined  on  his  course,  and  stood  to  that 
determination.  He  resolved  to  expiate  his  own  folly 
by  a  fate  that  would  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  stern¬ 
est  criticism  upon  his  conduct;  proclaim  his  abhor¬ 
rence  of  the  prosecutions ;  and  attest  the  strength  of 
his  feelings  towards  those  of  his  children  who  had 
been  false,  and  those  who  had  been  true,  to  his  wife. 


336 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


He  caused  to  be  drawn  up  what  has  been  called  a  will, 
although  it  is  in  reality  a  deed,  and  was  duly  recorded 
as  such.  Its  phraseology  is  very  strongly  guarded, 
and  made  to  give  it  clear,  full,  and  certain  effect.  It 
begins  thus  :  “  Know  ye,  &c.,  that  I,  Giles  Corey,  lying 
under  great  trouble  and  affliction,  through  which  I  am 
very  weak  in  body,  hut  in  perfect  memory,  —  knowing 
not  how  soon  I  may  depart  this  life  ;  in  consideration 
of  which,  and  for  the  fatherly  love  and  affection  which 
I  have  and  do  hear  unto  my  beloved  son-in-law,  Wil¬ 
liam  Cleeves,  of  the  town  of  Beverly,  and  to  my  son- 
in-law,  John  Moulton,  of  the  town  of  Salem,  as  also  for 
divers  other  good  causes  and  considerations  me  at  the 
present  especially  moving ;  ”  and  proceeds  to  convey 
and  confirm  all  his  property  —  “lands,  meadow,  hous¬ 
ing,  cattle,  stock,  movables  and  immovables,  money, 
apparel,  .  .  .  and  all  other  the  aforesaid  premises, 
with  their  appurtenances  ”  —  to  the  said  Cleeves  and 
Moulton  “  for  ever,  freely  and  quietly,  without  any 
manner  of  challenge,  claim,  or  demand  of  me  the  said 
Giles  Corey,  or  of  any  other  person  or  persons  what¬ 
soever  for  me  in  my  name,  or  by  my  cause,  means,  or 
procurement;”  and,  in  the  use  of  all  the  language 
applicable  to  that  end,  he  warrants  and  hinds  him¬ 
self  to  defend  the  aforesaid  conveyance  and  grant  to 
Cleeves  and  Moulton,  their  heirs,  executors,  adminis¬ 
trators,  and  assigns  for  ever.  The  document  was 
properly  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered  in  the  presence 
of  competent  witnesses,  whose  several  signatures  are 
indorsed  to  that  effect.  It  was  duly  acknowledged 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


337 


before  “  Thomas  Wade,  Justice  of  the  Peace  in  Essex,” 
and  recorded  forthwith.  This  transaction  took  place 
in  the  jail  at  Ipswich. 

His  whole  property  being  thus  securely  conveyed  to 
his  faithful  sons-in-law,  and  placed  beyond  tbe  reach 
of  his  own  weakness  or  change  of  purpose,  Corey  re¬ 
solved  on  a  course  that  would  surely  try  to  the  utmost 
the  power  of  human  endurance  and  firmness.  He 
knew,  that,  if  brought  to  trial,  his  death  was  certain. 
He  did  not  know  but  that  conviction  and  execution, 
through  the  attainder  connected  with  it,  might  invali¬ 
date  all  attempts  of  his  to  convey  his  property.  But 
it  was  certain,  that,  if  he  should  not  be  brought  to  trial 
and  conviction,  his  deed  would  stand,  and  nothing 
could  break  it,  or  defeat  its  effect.  He  accordingly 
made  up  his  mind  not  to  be  tried.  When  called  into 
court  to  answer  to  the  indictment  found  by  the  Grand 
Jury,  he  did  not  plead  “  Guilty,”  or  “  Not  guilty,”  but 
stood  mute.  How  often  he  was  called  forth,  we  are 
not  informed ;  but  nothing  could  shake  him.  No 
power  on  earth  could  unseal  his  lips. 

He  knew  that  he  could  have  no  trial  that  would 
deserve  the  name.  To  have  pleaded  “  Not  guilty  ” 
would  have  made  him,  by  his  own  act,  a  party  to  the 
proceeding,  and  have  been,  by  implication,  an  assent 
to  putting  his  case  to  the  decision  of  a  blind,  mad¬ 
dened,  and  utterly  perverted  tribunal.  He  would  not, 
by  any  act  or  utterance  of  his,  leave  his  case  with 
“  the  country  ”  represented  by  a  jury  that  embodied 
the  passions  of  the  deluded  and  infatuated  multitude 
vol.  ii.  22 


/ 


338 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


around  him.  He  knew  that  the  gates  of  justice  were 
closed,  and  that  truth  had  fled  from  the  scene.  He 
would  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter ;  refused  to 
recognize  the  court,  made  no  response  to  its  questions, 
and  was  dumb  in  its  presence.  He  stands  alone  in 
the  resolute  defiance  of  his  attitude.  He  knew  the 
penalty  of  suffering  and  agony  he  would  have  to  pay ; 
but  he  freely  and  fearlessly  encountered  it.  All  that 
was  needed  to  carry  his  point  was  an  unconquerable 
firmness,  and  he  had  it.  He  rendered  it  impossible  to 
bring  him  to  trial ;  and  thereby,  in  spite  of  the  power 
and  wrath  of  the  whole  country  and  its  authorities, 
retained  his  right  to  dispose  of  his  property  ;  and  bore 
his  testimony  against  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  the 
hour  in  tones  that  reached  the  whole  world,  and  will 
resound  through  all  the  ages. 

When  Corey  took  this  ground,  the  Court  found  itself 
in  a  position  of  no  little  difficulty,  and  was  probably  at 
a  loss  what  to  do.  No  information  has  come  to  us 
of  the  details  of  the  proceedings.  If  the  usages  in 
England  on  such  occasions  were  adopted,  the  prisoner 
was  three  times  brought  before  the  Court,  and  called 
to  plead ;  the  consequences  of  persisting  in  standing 
mute  being  solemnly  announced  to  him  at  each  time. 
If  he  remained  obdurate,  the  sentence  of  peine  forte 
et  dure  was  passed  upon  him ;  and,  remanded  to 
prison,  he  was  put  into  a  low  and  dark  apartment. 
He  would  there  be  laid  on  his  back  on  the  bare  floor, 
naked  for  the  most  part.  A  weight  of  iron  would  be 
placed  upon  him,  not  quite  enough  to  crush  him.  He 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  339 

would  have  no  sustenance,  save  only,  on  the  first  day, 
three  morsels  of  the  worst  bread  ;  and,  on  the  second 
day,  three  draughts  of  standing  water  that  should  be 
nearest  to  the  prison  door  :  and,  in  this  situation,  such 
would  be  alternately  his  daily  diet  till  he  died,  or  till 
he  answered.  The  object  of  this  terrible  punishment 
was  to  induce  the  prisoner  to  plead  to  the  indictment ; 
upon  doing  which,  he  would  be  brought  to  trial  in  the 
ordinary  way.  The  motive  that  led  prisoners  to  stand 
mute  in  England  is  stated  to  have  been,  most  gener¬ 
ally,  to  save  their  property  from  confiscation.  The 
practice  of  putting  weights  upon  them,  and  gradually 
increasing  them,  was  to  force  them,  by  the  slowly  in¬ 
creasing  torture,  to  yield. 

How  far  the  English  practice  was  imitated  in  the 
case  of  Corey  will  remain  for  ever  among  the  dread 
secrets  of  his  prison-house.  The  tradition  is,  that  the 
last  act  in  the  tragedy  was  in  an  open  field  near  the 
jail,  somewhere  between  Howard-street  Burial  Ground 
and  Brown  Street.  It  is  said  that  Corey  urged  the  exe¬ 
cutioners  to  increase  the  weight  which  was  crushing 
him,  that  he  told  them  it  was  of  no  use  to  expect  him 
to  yield,  that  there  could  be  but  one  way  of  ending 
the  matter,  and  that  they  might  as  well  pile  on  the 
rocks.  Calef  says,  that,  as  his  body  yielded  to  the 
pressure,  his  tongue  protruded  from  his  mouth,  and 
an  official  forced  it  back  with  his  cane.  Some  persons 
now  living  remember  a  popular  superstition,  lingering 
in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  more  ignorant  class,  that 
Corey’s  ghost  haunted  the  grounds  where  this  barbar- 


340 


■WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


ous  deed  was  done ;  and  that  boys,  as  they  sported  in 
the  vicinity,  were  in  the  habit  of  singing  a  ditty  begin¬ 
ning  thus :  — 

“  ‘  More  weight !  more  weight !  ’ 

Giles  Corey  he  cried.” 

For  a  person  of  more  than  eighty-one  years  of  age, 
this  must  be  allowed  to  have  been  a  marvellous  exhi¬ 
bition  of  prowess  ;  illustrating,  as  strongly  as  any 
thing  in  human  history,  the  power  of  a  resolute  will 
over  the  utmost  pain  and  agony  of  body,  and  demon¬ 
strating  that  Giles  Corey  was  a  man  of  heroic  nerve, 
and  of  a  spirit  that  could  not  be  subdued. 

It  produced  a  deep  effect,  as  it  was  feared  that  it 
would.  The  bearing  of  all  the  sufferers  at  all  the 
stages  of  the  proceedings,  and  at  their  execution,  had 
told  in  their  favor ;  but  the  course  of  Giles  Corey  pro¬ 
foundly  affected  the  public  mind.  This  must  have 
been  noticed  by  the  managers  of  the  prosecutions;  and 
they  felt  that  some  extraordinary  expedient  was  neces¬ 
sary  to  renew,  and  render  more  intense  than  ever,  the 
general  infatuation.  From  the  very  beginning,  there 
had  been  great  skill  and  adroitness  in  arranging  the 
order  of  incidents,  and  supplying  the  requisite  excite¬ 
ments  at  the  right  moments  and  the  right  points. 
Some  persons  —  it  can  only  be  conjectured  who  — 
had,  all  along,  been  behind  the  scenes,  giving  direction 
and  materials  to  the  open  actors.  This  unseen  power 
was  in  the  village ;  and  the  movements  it  devised 
generally  proceeded  from  Thomas  Putnam’s  house,  or 
the  parsonage.  It  was  on  hand  to  meet  the  contingency 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


341 


created  by  Corey’s  having  actually  carried  out  to  the 
last  his  resolution  to  meet  a  form  of  death  that  would, 
if  any  thing  could,  cause  a  re-action  in  the  public  mind  ; 
and  the  following  stratagem  was  contrived  to  turn  the 
manner  of  his  death  into  the  means  of  more  than  ever 
blinding  and  infatuating  the  people.  It  was  the  last 
and  one  of  the  most  artful  strokes  of  policy  by  the 
prosecutors.  On  the  day  after  the  death  of  Corey,  and 
two  days  before  the  execution  of  his  wife,  Mary  Easty, 
and  the  six  others,  Judge  Sewall,  then  in  Salem,  re¬ 
ceived  a  letter  from  Thomas  Putnam  to  this  effect :  — 

“  Last  night,  my  daughter  Ann  was  grievously  tormented 
by  witches,  threatening  that  she  should  be  pressed  to  death 
before  Giles  Corey  ;  but,  through  the  goodness  of  a  gracious 
God,  she  had  at  last  a  little  respite.  Whereupon  there 
appeared  unto  her  (she  said)  a  man  in  a  winding-sheet, 
who  told  her  that  Giles  Corey  had  murdered  him  by  pressing 
him  to  death  with  his  feet ;  but  that  the  Devil  there  ap¬ 
peared  unto  him,  and  covenanted  with  him,  and  promised 
him  that  he  should  not  be  hanged.  The  apparition  said  God 
hardened  his  heart,  that  he  should  not  hearken  to  the  advice 
of  the  Court,  and  so  die  an  easy  death  ;  because,  as  it  said, 
it  must  be  done  to  him  as  he  has  done  to  me.  The  appari¬ 
tion  also  said  that  Giles  Corey  was  carried  to  the  Court  for 
this,  and  that  the  jury  had  found  the  murder;  and  that  her 
father  knew  the  man,  and  the  thing  was  done  before  she 
was  born.” 

Cotton  Mather  represented  this  vision,  made  to  Ann 
Putnam,  as  proof  positive  of  a  divine  communication 
to  her,  because,  as  lie  says,  site  could  not  have  received 


342 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


her  information  from  a  human  source,  as  everybody 
had  forgotten  the  affair  long  ago ;  and  that  she  never 
could  have  heard  of  it,  happening,  as  it  did,  before  she 
was  born.  Bringing  up  this  old  matter  to  meet  the  effect 
produced  by  Corey’s  death  was  indeed  a  skilful  move  ; 
and  it  answered  its  purpose  probably  to  a  considerable 
extent.  The  man  whom  Corey  was  thus  charged  with 
having  murdered  seventeen  years  before  died  in  a  man¬ 
ner  causing  some  gossip  at  the  time ;  and  a  coroner’s 
jury  found  that  he  had  been  “  bruised  to  death,  having 
dodders  of  blood  about  the  heart.”  Bringing  the 
affair  back  to  the  public  mind,  with  the  story  of  Ann 
Putnam’s  vision,  was  well  calculated  to  meet  and 
check  any  sympathy  that  might  threaten  to  arise  in 
favor  of  Corey.  But  the  trick,  however  ingenious, 
will  not  stand  the  test  of  scrutiny.  Mather’s  state¬ 
ment  that  everybody  had  forgotten  the  transaction, 
and  that  Ann  could  only  have  known  of  it  super- 
naturally,  is  wholly  untenable ;  for  it  was  precisely 
one  of  those  things  that  are  never  forgotten  in  a 
country  village :  it  had  always  been  kept  alive  as  a 
part  of  the  gossip  of  the  neighborhood  in  connection 
with  Corey ;  and  her  own  father,  as  is  unwittingly 
acknowledged,  knew  the  man,  and  all  about  it.  Of 
course,  the  girl  had  heard  of  it  from  him  and  others. 
The  industry  that  had  ransacked  the  traditions  and 
collected  the  scandal  of  the  whole  country,  far  and 
near,  for  stories  that  were  brought  in  evidence  against 
all  the  prisoners,  had  not  failed  to  pick  up  this  choice 
bit  against  Corey.  The  only  reason  why  it  had  not 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


343 


before  been  brought  out  was  because  he  bad  not  been 
on  trial.  The  man  who  died  with  “  dodders  of  blood 
about  his  heart,”  seventeen  years  before,  was  an  un¬ 
fortunate  and  worthless  person,  who  had  incurred 
punishment  for  his  misconduct  while  a  servant  on 
Corey’s  farm,  and  afterwards  at  the  hands  of  his  own 
family :  and  he  does  not  appear  to  have  mended  his 
morals  upon  passing  into  the  spiritual  world ;  for  the 
statement  of  his  ghost  to  Ann  Putnam,  that  the  jury 
had  found  Corey  guilty  of  murder,  and  that  the 
Court  was  hindered  by  some  enchantment  from  pro¬ 
ceeding  against  him,  is  disproved  by  the  record  which 
is,  —  as  has  been  mentioned  in  the  First  Part,  vol.  i. 
p.  185,  —  that  the  man  was  carried  hack  to  his  house 
by  Corey’s  wife,  and  died  there  some  time  after ;  and 
the  Court  did  no  more  than  fine  Corey  for  the  punish¬ 
ment  he  had  inflicted  upon  him  while  in  his  service, 
and  which  the  evidence  showed  was  repeated  by  his 
parents  after  his  return  to  his  own  family. 

Thomas  Putnam’s  letter  and  Ann’s  vision  were  the 
last  things  of  the  kind  that  occurred.  The  delusion 
was  approaching  its  close,  and  the  people  were  begin¬ 
ning  to  be  restored  to  their  senses. 

When  it  became  known  that  Corey’s  resolution  was 
likely  to  hold  out,  and  that  no  torments  or  cruelties  of 
any  kind  could  subdue  his  firm  and  invincible  spirit, 
Mr.  Noyes  hurried  a  special  meeting  of  his  church  on 
a  week-day,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  dealing  the 
same  awful  doom  upon  him  as  upon  Rebecca  Nurse. 
The  entry  in  the  record  of  the  First  Church  is  as 
follows :  — 


344 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Sept.  18,  G.  Corey  was  excommunicated  :  the  cause 
of  it  was,  that  he  being  accused  and  indicted  for  the  sin  of 
witchcraft,  he  refused  to  plead,  and  so  incurred  the  sen¬ 
tence  and  penalty  of  pain  fort  dure;  being  undoubtedly 
either  guilty  of  the  sin  of  witchcraft,  or  of  throwing  himself 
upon  sudden  and  certain  death,  if  he  were  otherwise  inno¬ 
cent.” 

This  attempt  to  introduce  a  form  of  argument  into 
a  church  act  of  excommunication  is  a  slight  hut 
significant  symptom  of  its  having  become  felt  that  the 
breath  of  reason  had  begun  to  raise  a  ripple  upon 
the  surface  of  the  public  mind.  It  increased  slowly 
but  steadily  to  a  gale  that  beat  with  severity  upon  Mr. 
Noyes  and  all  his  fellow-persecutors  to  their  dying  day. 

After  the  executions,  on  the  22d  of  September,  the 
Court  adjourned  to  meet  some  weeks  subsequently ; 
and  it  was,  no  doubt,  their  expectation  to  continue 
from  month  to  month  to  hold  sessions,  and  supply, 
each  time,  new  cart-loads  of  victims  to  the  hangman. 
But  a  sudden  collapse  took  place  in  the  machinery, 
and  they  met  no  more.  The  executive  authority  inter¬ 
vened,  and  their  functions  ceased.  The  curtain  fell  un¬ 
expectedly,  and  the  tragedy  ended.  It  is  not  known  pre¬ 
cisely  what  caused  this  sudden  change.  It  is  probable, 
that  a  revolution  had  been  going  on  some  time  in  the 
public  mind,  which  was  kept  for  a  while  from  notice, 
but  at  last  became  too  apparent  and  too  serious  to  be 
disregarded.  It  has  generally  been  attributed  to  the 
fact,  that  the  girls  became  over-confident,  and  struck 
too  high.  They  had  ventured,  as  we  have  seen,  to  cry 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


345 


out  against  the  Rev.  Samuel  Willard,  but  were  re¬ 
buked  and  silenced  by  the  Court.  Whoever  began  to 
waver  in  his  confidence  of  the  correctness  of  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  was  in  danger  of  being  attacked  by  them ; 
and,  as  a  general  thing,  when  a  person  was  “  cried  out 
upon,”  it  may  be  taken  as  proof  that  he  had  spoken 
against  them.  Increase  Mather,  the  president  of  Har¬ 
vard  College,  called  by  Eliot  “  the  father  of  the  New- 
England  clergy,”  was  understood  not  to  go  so  far  as 
liis  son  Cotton  in  sustaining  the  proceedings ;  and  a 
member  of  his  family  was  accused.  The  wife  of  Sir 
William  Pliips  sympathized  with  those  who  suffered 
prosecution,  and  is  said  to  have  written  an  order  for 
the  release  of  a  prisoner  from  jail.  She  was  cried  out 
upon.  It  may  have  been  noticed,  that,  though  Jona¬ 
than  Corwin  sat  with  Hathorne  as  an  examining 
magistrate  and  assistant,  and  signed  the  commitments 
of  the  prisoners,  he  never  took  an  active  part,  but  was 
a  silent  and  passive  agent  in  the  scene.  He  was  sub¬ 
sequently  raised  to  the  bench ;  but  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  his  mind  was  not  clear  as  to  the  cor¬ 
rectness  of  the  proceedings.  This  probably  became 
known  to  the  accusing  girls ;  for  they  cried  out  re¬ 
peatedly  against  his  wife’s  mother,  a  respectable  and 
venerable  lady  in  Boston.  The  accusers,  in  aiming 
at  such  characters,  overestimated  their  power ;  and 
the  tide  began  to  turn  against  them.  But  what 
finally  broke  the  spell  by  which  they  had  held  the 
minds  of  the  whole  colony  in  bondage  was  their 
accusation,  in  October,  of  Mrs.  Hale,  the  wife  of  the 


846 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Beverly.  Her  genuine 
and  distinguished  virtues  had  won  for  her  a  reputation, 
and  secured  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  a  confidence, 
which  superstition  itself  could  not  sully  nor  shake. 
Mr.  Hale  had  been  active  in  all  the  previous  proceed¬ 
ings  ;  but  he  knew  the  innocence  and  piety  of  his  wife, 
and  he  stood  forth  between  her  and  the  storm  he  had 
helped  to  raise :  although  he  had  driven  it  on  while 
others  were  its  victims,  he  turned  and  resisted  it  when 
it  burst  in  upon  his  own  dwelling.  The  whole  com¬ 
munity  became  convinced  that  the  accusers  in  crying 
out  upon  Mrs.  Hale,  had  perjured  themselves,  and 
from  that  moment  their  power  was  destroyed ;  the 
awful  delusion  was  dispelled,  and  a  close  put  to  one  of 
the  most  tremendous  tragedies  in  the  history  of  real 
life.  The  wildest  storm,  perhaps,  that  ever  raged  in 
the  moral  world,  became  a  calm ;  the  tide  that  had 
threatened  to  overwhelm  every  thing  in  its  fury,  sunk 
back  to  its  peaceful  bed.  There  are  few,  if  any,  other 
instances  in  history,  of  a  revolution  of  opinion  and 
feeling  so  sudden,  so  rapid,  and  so  complete.  The 
images  and  visions  that  had  possessed  the  bewildered 
imaginations  of  the  people  flitted  away,  and  left  them 
standing  in  the  sunshine  of  reason  and  their  senses ; 
and  they  could  have  exclaimed,  as  they  witnessed  them 
passing  off,  in  the  language  of  the  great  master  of  the 
drama  and  of  human  nature,  but  that  their  rigid 
Puritan  principles  would  not,  it  is  presumed,  have 
permitted  them,  even  in  that  moment  of  rescue  and 
deliverance,  to  quote  Shakspeare, — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


347 


“  The  earth  hath  bubbles,  as  the  water  has, 

And  these  are  of  them.  Whither  are  they  vanished  I 
Into  the  air;  and  what  seemed  corporal,  melted 
As  breath  into  the  wind.” 


Sir  William  Pliips  well  knew  that  the  public  senti¬ 
ment  demanded  a  stop  to  he  put  to  the  prosecutions. 
Besides  that  many  of  the  people  had  lost  all  faith  in 
the  grounds  on  which  they  had  been  conducted,  an 
influence  from  the  higher  orders  of  society  began  to 
make  itself  felt.  Hutchinson  says,  “  Although  many 
such  had  suffered,  yet  there  remained  in  prison  a 
number  of  women  of  as  reputable  families  as  any  in 
the  towns  where  they  lived,  and  several  persons,  of 
still  superior  rank,  were  hinted  at  by  the  pretended 
bewitched,  or  by  the  confessing  witches.  Some  had 
been  publicly  named.  Dudley  Bradstreet,  a  justice 
of  peace,  who  had  been  appointed  one  of  President 
Dudley’s  council,  and  who  was  son  to  the  worthy  old 
governor,  then  living,  found  it  necessary  to  abscond. 
Having  been  remiss  in  prosecuting,  he  had  been  charged 
by  some  of  the  afflicted  as  a  confederate.  His  brother, 
John  Bradstreet,  was  forced  to  fly  also.” 

The  termination  of  the  proceedings  was  probably 
effectually  secured  by  the  spirited  course  of  certain 
parties  in  Andover,  who,  at  the  first  moment  of  its 
appearing  that  the  public  sentiment  was  changing, 
commenced  actions  for  slander  against  the  accusers. 

The  result  of  the  whole  matter  was,  that,  while  some 
of  the  judges,  magistrates,  and  ministers  persisted  in 
their  fanatical  zeal,  the  great  body  of  the  people,  high 
and  low,  were  rescued  from  the  delusion. 


348 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


While,  in  the  course  of  our  story,  we  have  witnessed 
some  shocking  instances  of  the  violation  of  the  most 
sacred  affections  and  obligations  of  life,  in  husbands 
and  wives,  parents  and  children,  testifying  against 
each  other,  and  exerting  themselves  for  mutual  de¬ 
struction,  we  must  not  overlook  the  many  instances 
in  which  filial,  parental,  and  fraternal  fidelity  and  love 
have  shone  conspicuously.  It  was  dangerous  to  be¬ 
friend  an  accused  person.  Procter  stood  by  his  wife 
to  protect  her,  and  it  cost  him  his  life.  Children 
protested  against  the  treatment  of  their  parents,  and 
they  were  all  thrown  into  prison.  Daniel  Andrew, 
a  citizen  of  high  standing,  who  had  been  deputy  to 
the  General  Court,  asserted,  in  the  boldest  language, 
his  belief  of  Rebecca  Nurse’s  innocence ;  and  he  had 
to  fly  the  country  to  save  his  life.  Many  devoted 
sons  and  daughters  clung  to  their  parents,  visited 
them  in  prison  in  defiance  of  a  bloodthirsty  mob ; 
kept  by  their  side  on  the  way  to  execution ;  expressed 
their  love,  sympathy,  and  reverence  to  the  last ;  and, 
by  brave  and  perilous  enterprise,  got  possession  of 
their  remains,  and  bore  them  back  under  the  cover 
of  midnight  to  their  own  thresholds,  and  to  graves 
kept  consecrated  by  their  prayers  and  tears.  One 
noble  young  man  is  said  to  have  effected  his  mother’s 
escape  from  the  jail,  and  secreted  her  in  the  woods 
until  after  the  delusion  had  passed  away,  provided  food 
and  clothing  for  her,  erected  a  wigwam  for  her  shel¬ 
ter,  and  surrounded  her  with  every  comfort  her  situ¬ 
ation  would  admit  of.  The  poor  creature  must, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


349 


however,  have  endured  a  great  amount  of  suffering ; 
for  one  of  her  larger  limbs  was  fractured  in  the  all 
hut  desperate  attempt  to  rescue  her  from  the  prison- 
walls. 

The  Special  Court  being  no  longer  suffered  to  meet, 
a  permanent  and  regular  tribunal,  called  the  Superior 
Court  of  Judicature,  was  established,  consisting  of  the 
Deputy-governor, William  Stoughton,  Chief-justice;  and 
Thomas  Danforth,  John  Richards,  Wait  Winthrop, 
and  Samuel  Sewall,  associate  justices.  They  held  a 
Court  at  Salem,  in  January,  1693.  Hutchinson  says 
that,  on  this  occasion,  the  Grand  Jury  found  about 
fifty  indictments.  The  following  persons  were  brought 
to  trial:  Rebecca  Jacobs,  Margaret  Jacobs,  Sarah  Buck- 
ley,  Job  Tookey,  Hannah  Tyler,  Candy,  Mary  Marston, 
Elizabeth  Johnson,  Abigail  Barker,  Mary  Tyler,  Sarah 
Hawkes,  Mary  Wardwell,  Mary  Bridges,  Hannah  Post, 
Sarah  Bridges,  Mary  Osgood,  Mary  Lacy,  Jr.,  Sarah 
Wardwell,  Elizabeth  Johnson,  Jr.,  and  Mary  Post. 
The  three  last  were  condemned,  but  not  executed :  all 
the  rest  were  acquitted.  Considering  that  the  “  spec¬ 
tral  evidence  ”  was  wholly  thrown  out  at  these  trials, 
the  ,  facts  that  the  grand  jury,  under  the  advice  of  the 
Court,  brought  in  so  many  indictments,  and  that  three 
were  actually  convicted,  are  as  discreditable  to  the 
regular  Court  as  the  convictions  at  the  Special  Court 
are  to  that  body.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Special 
Court  had  not  an  adequate  representation  of  lawyers 
in  its  composition ;  and  the  results  of  its  proceedings 
have  been  ascribed  to  that  circumstance.  It  has  been 


350 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


held  up  disparagingly  in  comparison  with  the  regu¬ 
lar  Court  that  succeeded  it.  But,  in  fact,  the  regular 
Court  consisted  of  persons  all  of  whom  sat  in  the 
Special  Court,  with  the  exception  of  Dan  forth.  But 
his  proceedings  in  originating  the  arrests  for  witch¬ 
craft  in  the  fall  of  1691,  and  his  action  when  pre¬ 
siding  at  the  preliminary  examination  of  John  Procter, 
Elizabeth  Procter,  and  Sarah  Cloyse,  at  Salem,  April 
11,  1692,  show  that,  so  far  as  the  permission  of  gross 
irregularities  and  the  admission  of  absurd  kinds  of 
testimony  are  concerned,  the  regular  Court  gained 
nothing  by  his  sitting  with  it,  unless  his  views  had 
been  thoroughly  changed  in  the  mean  time.  The  truth 
is,  that  the  judges,  magistrates,  and  legislature  were 
as  much  to  blame,  in  this  whole  business,  as  the 
ministers,  and  much  more  slow  to  come  to  their  senses, 
and  make  amends  for  their  wrong-doing. 

All  the  facts  known  to  us,  and  all  the  statements 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  require  us  to  believe,  that 
none  who  confessed,  and  stood  to  their  confession, 
were  brought  to  trial.  All  who  were  condemned  either 
maintained  their  innocence  from  the  first,  or,  if  per¬ 
suaded  or  overcome  into  a  confession,  voluntarily  took 
it  back  and  disowned  it  before  trial.  If  this  be  so, 
then  the  name  of  every  person  condemned  ought  to 
be  held  in  lasting  honor,  as  preferring  to  die  rather 
than  lie,  or  stand  to  a  lie.  It  required  great  strength 
of  mind  to  take  back  a  confession ;  relinquish  life  and 
liberty ;  go  down  into  a  dungeon,  loaded  with  irons ; 
and  from  thence  to  ascend  the  gallows.  It  relieves 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


351 


the  mind  to  think,  that  Abigail  Hobbs,  wicked  and 
shocking  as  her  conduct  had  been  towards  Mr.  Bur¬ 
roughs  and  others,  came  to  herself,  and  offered  her 
life  in  atonement  for  her  sin. 

The  Court  continued  the  trials  at  successive  sessions 
during  the  spring,  all  resulting  in  acquittals,  until  in 
May,  1693,  Sir  William  Pliips,  by  proclamation,  dis¬ 
charged  all.  Hutchinson  says,  “  Such  a  jail-delivery 
lias  never  been  known  in  New  England.”  The  num¬ 
ber  then  released  is  stated  to  have  been  one  hundred 
and  fifty.  How  many  had  been  apprehended,  during 
the  whole  affair,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing. 
Twenty,  counting  Giles  Corey,  had  been  executed. 
Two  at  least,  Ann  Foster  and  Sarah  Osburn,  had  died 
in  jail  :  it  is  not  improbable  that  others  perished 
under  the  bodily  and  mental  sufferings  there.  We 
find  frequent  expressions  indicating  that  many  died 
in  prison.  A  considerable  number  of  children,  and 
some  adults  whose  friends  were  able  to  give  the  heavy 
bonds  required  and  had  influence  enough  to  secure 
the  favor,  had  some  time  before  been  removed  to 
private  custody.  Quite  a  considerable  number  had 
succeeded  in  breaking  jail  and  eluding  recapture. 
Upon  the  whole,  there  must  have  been  several  hun¬ 
dreds  committed.  Even  after  acquittal  by  a  jury,  and 
the  Governor’s  proclamation,  none  were'  set  at  liberty 
until  they  had  paid  all  charges ;  including  board  for 
the  whole  time  of  their  imprisonment,  jailer’s  fees, 
and  fees  of  Court  of  all  kinds.  The  families  of  many 
had  become  utterly  impoverished. 


352 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  and  of  their  re-  f 

l! 

latives  and  connections  arc  perhaps  best  illustrated  , 
by  presenting  the  substance  of  a  few  of  the  petitions  | 
for  their  release,  found  among  the  files.  The  friends  of  | 
the  parties,  in  these  cases,  were  not  in  a  condition  to 
give  the  bonds,  and  they  probably  remained  in  jail  j 
until  the  general  discharge ;  and  how  long  after,  be¬ 
fore  the  means  could  be  raised  to  pay  all  dues,  we 
cannot  know.'* 

*  On  the  19th  of  October,  1692,  Thomas  Hart,  of  Lynn,  presented 
a  memorial  to  the  General  Court,  stating  that  his  mother,  Elizabeth 
Hart,  had  then  been  in  Boston  jail  for  nearly  six  months:  “Though, 
in  all  this  time,  nothing  has  appeared  against  her  whereby  to  render 
her  deserving  of  imprisonment  or  death, . .  .  being  ancient,  and  not  able 
to  undergo  the  hardship  that  is  inflicted  from  lying  in  misery,  and 
death  rather  to  be  chosen  than  a  life  in  her  circumstances.”  He  says, 
that  his  father  is  “  ancient  and  decrepit,  and  wholly  unable  ”  to  take 
any  steps  in  her  behalf;  that  he  feels  “obliged  by  all  Christian  duty, 
as  becomes  a  child  to  parents,”  to  lay  her  case  before  the  General 
Court.  “  The  petitioner  having  lived  from  his  childhood  under  the 
same  roof  with  his  mother,  he  dare  presume  to  affirm  that  he  never 
saw  nor  knew  any  evil  or  sinful  practice  wherein  there  was  any  show 
of  impiety  nor  witchcraft  by  her ;  and,  were  it  otherwise,  he  would 
not,  for  the  world  and  all  the  enjoyments  thereof,  nourish  or  support 
any  creature  that  he  knew  engaged  in  the  drudgery  of  Satan.  It  is 
well  known  to  all  the  neighborhood,  that  the  petitioner’s  mother  has 
lived  a  sober  and  godly  life,  always  ready  to  discharge  the  part  of  a 
good  Christian,  and  never  deserving  of  afflictions  from  the  hands 
of  men  for  any  thing  of  this  nature.”  He  humbly  prays  “for  the 
speedy  enlargement  of  this  person  so  much  abused.”  I  present  two 
more  petitions.  They  help  to  fill  up  the  picture  of  the  sufferings  and 
hardships  borne  by  individuals  and  families. 

“  To  the  Honored  General  Court  now  sitting  in  Boston ,  the  Thimble  Petition 
of  Nicholas  Rist,  of  Reading ,  sliowetli ,  that  whereas  Sara  Rist,  wife  of  the 
petitioner,  was  taken  into  custody  the  first  day  of  June  last,  and,  ever 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


353 


Margaret  Jacobs  had  to  remain  in  jail  after  the 
Governor’s  proclamation  had  directed  the  release  of 
all  prisoners,  because  she  could  not  pay  the  fees  and 
charges.  Her  grandfather  had  been  executed,  and 
all  his  furniture,  stock,  and  moveable  property  seized 
by  the  marshal  or  sheriff.  Her  father  escaped  the 
warrant  by  a  sudden  flight  from  his  home  under 
the  cover  of  midnight,  and  was  in  exile  “  beyond  the 
seas ;  ”  her  mother  and  herself  taken  at  the  time  by 
the  officers  serving  the  warrants  against  them ;  the 
younger  children  of  the  family,  left  without  protection, 
had  dispersed,  and  been  thrown  upon  the  charity  of 
neighbors  ;  the  house  had  been  stripped  of  its  contents, 
left  open,  and  deserted.  She  had  not  a  shilling  in 
the  world,  and  knew  not  where  to  look  for  aid.  She 

since  lain  in  Boston  jail  for  witchcraft;  though,  in  all  this  time,  nothing  has 
been  made  appear  for  which  she  deserved  imprisonment  or  death:  the  peti¬ 
tioner  has  been  a  husband  to  the  said  woman  above  twenty  years,  in  all 
which  time  he  never  had  reason  to  accuse  her  for  any  impiety  or  witch¬ 
craft,  but  the  contrary.  She  lived  with  him  as  a  good,  faithful,  dutiful 
wife,  and  always  had  respect  to  the  ordinances  of  God  while  her  strength 
remained;  and  the  petitioner,  on  that  consideration,  is  obliged  in  conscience 
and  justice  to  use  all  lawful  means  for  the  support  and  preservation  of  her 
life;  and  it  is  deplorable,  that,  in  old  age,  the  poor  decrepit  woman  should 
lie  under  confinement  so  long  in  a  stinking  jail,  when  her  circumstances 
rather  require  a  nurse  to  attend  her. 

“  May  it,  therefore,  please  Your  Honors  to  take  this  matter  into  your 
prudent  consideration,  and  direct  some  speedy  methods  whereby  this  an¬ 
cient  decrepit  person  may  not  for  ever  lie  in  such  misery,  wherein  her  life  is 
made  more  afflictive  to  her  than  death.” 

“  The  Humble  Petition  of  Thomas  Barrett ,  of  Chelmsford ,  in  New  Eng¬ 
land ,  in  behalf  of  his  daughter  Martha  Sparkes ,  wife  of  Henry  Sparkes,  who 
is  now  a  soldier  in  Their  Majesties'  Service  at  the  Eastern  Parts,  and  so  hath 
been  for  a  considerable  time,  humbly  slioiceth,  That  your  petitioner’s  daughter 
hath  lain  in  prison  in  Boston  for  the  space  of  twelve  months  and  five  days, 
vol.  ii.  28 


354 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


was  taken  back  to  prison,  and  remained  there  for  some 
time,  until  a  person  named  Gammon,  apparently  a 
stranger,  happened  to  hear  of  her  case,  and,  touched 
with  compassion,  raised  the  money  required,  and  re¬ 
leased  her.  It  was  long  before  the  affairs  of  the 
Jacobs’  family  were  so  far  retrieved  as  to  enable  them 
to  refund  the  money  to  the  noble-hearted  fisherman. 
How  many  others  lingered  in  prison,  or  how  long,  we 
have  no  means  of  ascertaining. 

In  reviewing  the  proceedings  at  the  examinations 
and  trials,  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  being  struck  with 
the  infatuation  of  the  magistrates  and  judges.  They 
acted  throughout  in  the  character  and  spirit  of  prose¬ 
cuting  officers,  put  leading  and  ensnaring  questions 
to  the  prisoners,  adopted  a  browbeating  deportment 
towards  them,  and  pursued  them  with  undisguised 
hostility.  They  assumed  their  guilt  from  the  first, 

being  committed  by  Thomas  Danfortli,  Esq.,  the  late  deputy-governor,  upon 
suspicion  of  witchcraft;  since  which  no  evidence  hath  appeared  against  her 
in  any  such  matter,  neither  hath  any  given  bond  to  prosecute  licr,  nor 
doth  any  one  at  this  day  accuse  her  of  any  such  thing,  as  your  petitioner 
knows  of.  That  your  petitioner  hath  ever  since  kept  two  of  her  children ; 
the  one  of  five  years,  the  other  of  two  years  old,  which  hath  been  a  con¬ 
siderable  trouble  and  charge  to  him  in  his  poor  and  mean  condition:  besides, 
your  petitioner  hath  a  lame,  ancient,  and  sick  wife,  who,  for  these  five 
years  and  upwards  past,  hath  been  so  afflicted  as  that  she  is  altogether 
rendered  uncapable  of  affording  herself  any  help,  which  much  augments 
his  trouble.  Your  poor  petitioner  earnestly  and  humbly  entreats  Your 
Excellency  and  Honors  to  take  his  distressed  condition  into  your  consider¬ 
ation;  and  that  you  will  please  to  order  the  releasemgnt  of  his  daughter 
from  her  confinement,  whereby  she  may  return  home  to  her  poor  children 
to  look  after  them,  having  nothing  to  pay  the  charge  of  her  confinement. 

“And  your  petitioner,  as  in  duty  bound,  shall  ever  pray. 

“  Nov.  1, 1692.” 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


355 


and  endeavored  to  force  them  to  confess  ;  treating  them 
as  obstinate  culprits  because  they  would  not.  Every 
kind  of  irregularity  was  permitted.  The  marshal  was 
encouraged  in  perpetual  interference  to  prejudice  the 
persons  on  trial,  watching  and  reporting  aloud  to  the 
Court  every  movement  of  their  hands  or  heads  or 
feet.  Other  persons  were  allowed  to  speak  out,  from 
the  body  of  the  crowd,  whatever  they  chose  to  say  ad¬ 
verse  to  the  prisoner.  Accusers  were  suffered  to  make 
private  communications  to  the  magistrates  and  judges 
before  or  during  the  hearings.  The  presiding  officers 
showed  off  their  smartness  in  attempts  to  make  the 
persons  on  trial  before  them  appear  at  a  disadvantage. 
In  some  instances,  as  in  the  case  of  Sarah  Good,  the 
magistrate  endeavored  to  deceive  the  accused  by  rep¬ 
resenting  falsely  the  testimony  given  by  another.  The 
people  in  and  around  the  court-room  were  allowed  to 
act  the  part  of  a  noisy  mob,  by  clamors  and  threaten¬ 
ing  outcries;  and  juries  were  overawed  to  bring  in 
verdicts  of  conviction,  and  rebuked  from  the  bench  if 
they  exercised  their  rightful  prerogative  without  regard 
to  the  public  passions.  The  chief-justice,  in  particular, 
appears  to  have  been  actuated  by  violent  prejudice 
against  the  prisoners,  and  to  have  conducted  the  trials, 
all  along,  with  a  spirit  that  bears  the  aspect  of  ani¬ 
mosity. 

There  is  one  point  of  view  in  which  he  must  be  held 
responsible  for  the  blood  that  was  shed,  and  the  in¬ 
famy  that,  in  consequence,  attaches  to  the  proceedings. 
It  may  well  be  contended,  that  not  a  conviction  would 


356 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


have  taken  place,  but  for  a  notion  of  his  which  he 
arbitrarily  enforced  as  a  rule  of  law.  It  was  a  part  of 
the  theory  relating  to  witchcraft,  that  the  Devil  made 
use  of  the  spectres,  or  apparitions,  of  some  persons  to 
afflict  others.  From  this  conceded  postulate,  a  division 
of  opinion  arose.  Some  maintained  that  the  Devil 
could  employ  only  the  spectres  of  persons  in  league 
with  him  ;  others  affirmed,  that  he  could  send  upon  his 
evil  errands  the  spectres  of  innocent  persons,  without 
their  consent  or  knowledge.  The  chief-justice  held  the 
former  opinion,  against  the  judgment  of  many  others, 
arbitrarily  established  it  as  a  rule  of  Court,  and  per¬ 
emptorily  instructed  juries  to  regard  it  as  binding 
upon  them  in  making  their  verdicts.  The  conse¬ 
quence  was  that  a  verdict  of  u  Guilty  ”  became  inevi¬ 
table.  But  few  at  that  time  doubted  the  veracity  of  the 
“  afflicted  persons,”  which  was  thought  to  be  demon¬ 
strated  to  the  very  senses  by  their  fits  and  sufferings, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Court,  jury,  and  all  beholders. 
When  they  swore  that  they  saw  the  shapes  of  Bridget 
Bishop,  or  Rebecca  Nurse,  or  George  Burroughs, 
choking  or  otherwise  torturing  a  person,  the  fact  was 
regarded  as  beyond  question. 

The  prisoners  took  the  ground,  that  the  statements 
made  by  the  witnesses,  even  if  admitted,  were  not  proof 
against  them ;  for  the  Devil  might  employ  the  spec¬ 
tres  of  innocent  persons,  or  of  whomsoever  he  chose, 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  persons  whose  shapes 
were  thus  used  by  him.  When  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam 
swore  that  she  had  seen  the  spectre  of  Rebecca  Nurse 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


357 


afflicting  various  persons ;  and  that  the  said  spectre 
acknowledged  to  her,  that  “  she  had  killed  Benjamin 
Houlton,  and  John  Fuller,  and  Rebecca  Shepard,”  — 
the  answer  of  the  prisoner  was,  “  I  cannot  help  it :  the 
Devil  may  appear  in  my  shape.”  When  the  examining 
magistrate  put  the  question  to  Susanna  Martin,  “  How 
comes  your  appearance  to  hurt  these  ?  ”  Martin  re¬ 
plied,  “  I  cannot  tell.  He  that  appeared  in  Samuel’s 
shape,  a  glorified  saint,  can  appear  in  any  one’s  shape.” 
The  Rev.  John  Wise,  in  his  noble  appeal  in  favor 
of  John  Procter,  argued  to  the  same  point.  But  the 
chief-justice  was  inexorably  deaf  to  all  reason^  com¬ 
pelled  the  jury  to  receive,  as  absolute  law,  that  the 
Devil  could  not  use  the  shape  of  an  innocent  person  ; 
and,  as  the  “  afflicted  ”  swore  that  they  saw  the  shapes 
of  the  prisoners  actually  engaged  in  the  diabolical 
work,  there  was  no  room  left  for  question,  and  they 
must  return  a  verdict  of  “  Guilty.” 

In  this  way,  innocent  persons  were  slaughtered  by  a 
dogma  in  the  mind  of  an  obstinate  judge.  Dogmas 
have  perverted  courts  and  governments  in  all  ages. 
A  fabrication  of  fancy,  an  arbitrary  verbal  proposition, 
has  been  exalted  above  reason,  and  made  to  extinguish 
common  sense.  The  world  is  full  of  such  dogmas. 
They  mislead  the  actions  of  men,  and  confound  the 
page  of  history.  “  The  king  cannot  die  ”  is  one  of 
them.  It  is  held  as  an  axiom  of  political  and  con¬ 
stitutional  truth.  So  an  entire  dynasty,  crowded  with 
a  more  glorious  life  than  any  other,  is  struck  from  the 
annals  of  an  empire.  In  the  public  records  of  Eng- 


358 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


land,  the  existence  of  the  Commonwealth  is  ignored  ; 
and  the  traces  of  its  great  events  are  erased  from  the 
archives  of  the  government,  which,  in  all  its  formulas 
and  official  papers,  proclaims  a  lie.  A  hunted  fugitive, 
wandering  in  disguise  through  foreign  lands,  without 
a  foot  of  ground  on  the  globe  that  he  could  call  his  own, 
is  declared  in  all  public  acts,  parliamentary  and  judicial, 
and  even  by  those  assuming  to  utter  the  voice  of 
history,  to  have  actually  reigned  all  the  time.  In  our 
country  and  in  our  day,  we  are  perplexed,  and  our 
public  men  bewildered,  by  a  similar  dogma.  The 
merest  fabric  of  human  contrivance,  a  particular  form 
of  political  society,  is  impiously  clothed  with  an 
essential  attribute  of  God  alone ;  and  ephemeral  poli¬ 
ticians  are  announcing,  as  an  eternal  law  of  Providence, 
that  “  a  State  cannot  die.”  The  mischiefs  that  result, 
in  the  management  of  human  affairs,  from  enthroning 
dogmas  over  reason,  truth,  and  fact,  are,  as  they  ever 
have  been,  incalculable. 

Chief-justice  Stoughton  appears  to  have  kept  his 
mind  chained  to  his  dogma  to  the  last.  It  rendered 
him  wholly  incapable  of  opening  his  eyes  to  the  light 
of  truth.  He  held  on  to  spectral  evidence,  and  his 
corollary  from  it,  when  everybody  else  had  aban¬ 
doned  both.  He  would  not  admit  that  he,  or  any  one 
concerned,  had  been  in  error.  He  never  could  bear  to 
hear  any  persons  express  penitence  or  regret  for  the 
part  they  had  taken  in  the  proceedings.  When  the 
public  delusion  had  so  far  subsided  that  it  became 
difficult  to  procure  the  execution  of  a  witch,  he  was 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


359 


disturbed  and  incensed  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
abandoned  his  seat  on  the  bench.  During  a  session  of 
the  Court  at  Charlestown,  in  January,  1692-3,  “  word 
was  brought  in,  that  a  reprieve  was  sent  to  Salem,  and 
had  prevented  the  execution  of  seven  of  those  that 
were  there  condemned,  which  so  moved  the  chief 
judge  that  he  said  to  this  effect:  4  We  were  in  a  way 
to  have  cleared  the  land  of  them ;  who  it  is  that 
obstructs  the  cause  of  justice,  I  know  not:  the  Lord 
be  merciful  to  the  country !  ’  and  so  went  off  the 
bench,  and  came  no  more  into  that  Court.” 

I  have  spoken  of  the  judges  as  appearing  to  be  in¬ 
fatuated,  not  on  account  of  the  opinions  they  held  on 
the  subject  of  witchcraft,  for  these  were  the  opinions 
of  their  age ;  nor  from  the  peculiar  doctrine  their 
chief  enforced  upon  them,  for  that  was  entertained  by 
many,  and,  as  a  mere  theory,  was  perhaps  as  logically 
deducible  from  the  prevalent  doctrines  as  any  other. 
Their  infatuation  consisted  in  not  having  eyes  to  see, 
or  ears  to  hear,  evidences  continually  occurring  of  the 
untruthful  arts  and  tricks  of  the  afflicted  children,  of 
their  cunning  evasions,  and,  in  some  instances,  palpable 
falsehoods.  Then,  further,  there  was  solid  and  sub¬ 
stantial  evidence  before  them  that  ought  to  have  made 
them  pause  and  consider,  if  not  doubt  and  disbelieve. 
We  find  the  following  paper  among  the  files  :  — 

“  The  Testimony  of  John  Putnam,  Sr.,  and  Rebecca 
his  Wife,  saitli  that  our  son-in-law  John  Fuller,  and  our 
daughter  Rebecca  Shepard,  did  both  of  them  die  a  most 
violent  death  (and  died  acting  very  strangely  at  the  time  of 


360 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


their  death)  ;  further  saith,  that  we  did  judge  then  that  they 
both  died  of  a  malignant  fever,  and  had  no  suspicion  of 
withcraft  of  any,  neither  can  we  accuse  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar  of  any  such  thing.” 

When  we  recall  the  testimony  of  Ann  Putnam  the 
mother,  and  find  that  the  afflicted  generally  charged 
the  death  of  the  above-named  persons  upon  the  shape 
of  Rebecca  Nurse,  we  perceive  how  absolutely  Captain 
John  Putnam  and  his  wife  discredit  their  testimony. 
The  opinion  of  the  father  and  mother  of  Fuller  and 
Shepard  ought  to  have  had  weight  with  the  Court. 
They  were  persons  of  the  highest  standing,  and  of 
recognized  intelligence  and  judgment.  They  were  old 
church-members,  and  eminently  orthodox  in  all  their 
sentiments.  They  were  the  heads  of  a  great  family. 
He  had  represented  the  town  in  the  General  Court 
the  year  before.  No  man  in  this  part  of  the  country 
was  more  noted  for  strong  good  sense  than  Captain 
John  Putnam.  This  deposition  is  honorable  to  their 
memory,  and  clears  them  from  all  responsibility  for 
the  extent  to  which  the  afflicted  persons  were  allowed 
to  sway  the  judgment  of  the  Court.  Taken  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  paper  signed  by  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  best  people  of  the  village,  in  behalf  of  Rebecca 
Nurse,  it  proves  that  the  blame  for  the  shocking  pro¬ 
ceedings  in  the  witchcraft  prosecutions  cannot  be  laid 
upon  the  local  population,  but  rests  wholly  upon  the 
Court  and  the  public  authorities. 

The  Special  Court  that  condemned  the  persons 
charged  with  witchcraft  in  1692  is  justly  open  to 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


361 


censure  for  the  absence  of  all  discrimination  of  evi¬ 
dence,  and  for  a  prejudgment  of  the  cases  submitted 
to  them.  In  view  of  the  then  existing  law  and  the 
practice  in  the  mother-country  under  it,  they  ought 
to  have  the  benefit  of  the  admission  that  they  did,  in 
other  respects  than  those  mentioned,  no  more  and  no 
worse  than  was  to  be  expected.  And  Cotton  Mather, 
in  the  “  Magnalia,”  vindicates  them  on  this  ground :  — 

“  They  consulted  the  precedents  of  former  times,  and 
precepts  laid  down  by  learned  writers  about  witchcraft ;  as, 
Iveeble  on  the  Common  Law,  chap.  ‘  Conjuration’  (an  author 
approved  by  the  twelve  judges  of  our  nation)  :  also,  Sir 
Matthew  Hale’s  Trials  of  Witches,  printed  anno  1682  ; 
Glauvill’s  Collection  of  Sundry  Trials  in  England  and  Ire¬ 
land  in  the  years  1658,  ’61,  ’63,  ’64,  and  ’81  ;  Bernard’s 
Guide  to  Jury-men  ;  Baxter’s  and  R.  B.,  their  histories  about 
Witches,  and  their  Discoveries  ;  Cotton  Mather’s  Memo¬ 
rable  Providences  relating  to  Witchcraft,  printed  1685.” 

So  far  as  the  medical  profession  at  the  time  is 
concerned,  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  bear  a  full 
share  of  responsibility  for  the  proceedings.  They  gave 
countenance  and  currency  to  the  idea  of  witchcraft 
in  the  public  mind,  and  were  very  generally  in  the 
habit,  when  a  patient  did  not  do  well  under  their  pre¬ 
scriptions,  of  getting  rid  of  all  difficulty  by  saying 
that  “an  evil  hand”  was  upon  him.  Their  opinion 
to  this  effect  is  cited  throughout,  and  appears  in  a 
large  number  of  the  documents.  There  were  coroners’ 
juries  in  cases  where  it  was  suspected  that  a  person 


862 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


died  of  witchcraft.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that 
none  of  their  verdicts  have  been  preserved.  Drawn 
up  by  an  attending  “  chirurgeon,”  they  would  illus¬ 
trate  the  state  of  professional  science  at  that  day,  by 
informing  us  of  the  marks,  indications,  and  conditions 
of  the  bodily  organization  by  which  the  traces  of  the 
Devil’s  hand  were  believed  to  be  discoverable.  All 
we  know  is  that,  in  particular  cases,  as  that  of  Bray 
Wilkins’s  grandson  Daniel,  the  jury  found  decisive 
proof  that  he  had  died  by  “  an  evil  hand.” 

It  is  not  to  be  denied  or  concealed,  that  the  clergy 
were  instrumental  in  bringing  on  the  witchcraft  delu¬ 
sion  in  1692.  As  the  supposed  agents  of  the  mischief 
belonged  to  the  supernatural  and  spiritual  world,  which 
has  ever  been  considered  their  peculiar  province,  it  was 
thought  that  the  advice  and  co-operation  of  ministers 
were  particularly  appropriate  and  necessary.  Oppo¬ 
sition  to  prevailing  vices  and  attempts  to  reform  society 
were  considered  at  that  time  in  the  light  of  a  conflict 
with  Satan  himself;  and  he  was  thought  to  be  the  ablest 
minister  who  had  the  greatest  power  over  the  invisible 
enemy,  and  could  most  easily  and  effectively  avert  his 
blows,  and  counteract  his  baleful  influence.  This 
gave  the  clergy  the  front  in  the  battle  against  the 
hosts  of  Belial.  They  were  proud  of  the  position, 
and  were  stimulated  to  distinguish  themselves  in  the 
conflict.  Cotton  Mather  represents  that  ministers 
were  honored  by  the  special  hostility  of  the  great 
enemy  of  souls,  “  more  dogged  by  the  Devil  than 
any  other  men,”  just  as,  according  to  his  philosophy, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


863 


the  lightning  struck  the  steeples  of  churches  more 
frequently  than  other  buildings  because  the  Prince 
of  the  Power  of  the  Air  particularly  hated  the  places 
where  the  sound  of  the  gospel  was  heard.  There  were, 
moreover,  it  is  to  be  feared,  ministers  whose  ambition 
to  acquire  influence  and  power  had  been  allowed  to 
become  a  ruling  principle,  and  who  favored  the  de¬ 
lusion  because  thereby  their  object  could  be  most 
surely  achieved  by  carrying  the  people  to  the  great¬ 
est  extremes  of  credulity,  superstition,  and  fanatical 
blindness. 

But  justice  requires  it  to  be  said  that  the  ministers, 
as  a  general  thing,  did  not  take  the  lead  after  the 
proceedings  had  assumed  their  most  violent  aspect, 
and  the  disastrous  effects  been  fully  brought  to  view. 
It  may  be  said,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  took  the 
lead,  as  a  class,  in  checking  the  delusion,  and  rescuing 
the  public  mind  from  its  control.  Prior  to  the  time 
when  they  were  called  upon  to  give  their  advice  to  the 
government,  they  probably  followed  Cotton  Mather  : 
after  that,  they  seemed  to  have  freed  themselves  gen¬ 
erally  from  his  influence.  The  names  of  Dane  and 
Barnard  of  Andover,  Higginson  of  Salem,  Cheever 
of  Marblehead,  Hubbard  and  Wise  of  Ipswich,  Payson 
and  Phillips  of  Rowley,  Allin  of  Salisbury,  and  Capen 
of  Topsfield,  appear  in  behalf  of  persons  accused. 
To  come  forward  in  their  defence  shows  courage,  and 
proves  that  their  influence  was  in  the  right  direction, 
even  while  the  proceedings  were  at  their  height.  Mr. 
Hale,  of  Beverly,  abandoned  the  prosecutions,  and  ex- 


364 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


pressed  liis  disapprobation  of  them,  before  the  govern¬ 
ment  or  the  Court  relaxed  the  vigor  of  their  opera¬ 
tions,  as  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact  that  the 
“  afflicted  children  ”  cried  out  against  his  wife.  Wil¬ 
lard,  and  James  Allen,  and  Moody,  and  John  Bailey, 
and  even  Increase  Mather,  of  Boston,  openly  discoun¬ 
tenanced  the  course  things  were  taking.  The  latter 
circulated  a  letter  from  his  London  correspondent,  a 
person  whose  opinion  was  entitled  to  weight,  con¬ 
demning  in  the  strongest  terms  the  doctrine  of  the 
chief-justice,  as  follows :  u  All  that  I  speak  with 
much  wonder  that  any  man,  much  less  a  man  of  such 
abilities,  learning,  and  experience  as  Mr.  Stoughton, 
should  take  up  a  persuasion  that  the  Devil  cannot 
assume  the  likeness  of  an  innocent,  to  afflict  another 
person.  In  my  opinion,  it  is  a  persuasion  utterly 
destitute  of  any  solid  reason  to  render  it  so  much 
as  probable.”  The  ministers  may  have  been  among 
the  first  to  bring  on  the  delusion ;  but  the  foregoing- 
facts  prove,  that,  as  a  profession,  they  were  the  first 
to  attempt  to  check  and  discountenance  the  prose¬ 
cutions.  While  we  are  required,  in  all  fairness,  to 
give  this  credit  to  the  clergy  in  general,  it  would  be 
false  to  the  obligations  of  historical  truth  and  justice 
to  attempt  to  palliate  the  conduct  of  some  of  them. 
Whoever  considers  all  that  Mr.  Parris,  according  to 
his  own  account,  said  and  did,  cannot  but  shrink 
from  the  necessity  of  passing  judgment  upon  him, 
and  find  relief  in  leaving  him  to  that  tribunal  which 
alone  can  measure  the  extent  of  human  responsibility, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


365 


and  sound  the  depths  of  the  heart.  Lawson  threw 
into  the  conflagration  all  the  combustible  materials 
his  eloquence  and  talents,  heated,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
by  resentment,  could  contribute.  Dr.  Bentley,  in  his 
“Description  and  History  of  Salem”  (Mass.  Hist. 
Coll.,  1st  series,  vol.  vi.)  says,  “Mr.  Noyes  came  out 
and  publicly  confessed  his  error,  never  concealed  a 
circumstance,  never  excused  himself;  visited,  loved, 
blessed,  the  survivors  whom  ho  Had  injured ;  asked 
forgiveness  always,  and  consecrated  the  residue  of 
his  life  to  bless  mankind.”  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  statement  is  correct.  There  were  several  points 
of  agreement  between  Noyes  and  Bentley.  Both  were 
men  of  ability  and  learning.  Like  Bentley,  Noyes 
lived  and  died  a  bachelor  ;  and,  like  him,  was  a  man  of 
lively  and  active  temperament,  and,  in  the  general  tenor 
of  his  life,  benevolent  and  disinterested.  Perhaps  con¬ 
geniality  in  these  points  led  Bentley  to  make  the  state¬ 
ment,  just  quoted,  a  little  too  strong.  He  wrote  more 
than  a  century  after  the  witchcraft  proceedings ;  just 
at  that  point  when  tradition  had  become  inflated  by 
all  manner  of  current  talk,  of  fable  mixed  with  fact, 
before  the  correcting  and  expunging  hand  of  a  severe 
scrutiny  of  records  and  documents  had  commenced 
its  work.  The  drag-net  of  time  had  drawn  along 
with  it  every  thing  that  anybody  had  said ;  but  the 
process  of  sifting  and  discrimination  had  not  begun. 
His  kindly  and  ingenuous  nature  led  him  to  believe, 
and  prompted  him  to  write  down,  all  that  was  ami¬ 
able,  and  pleasing  to  a  mind  like  his.  So  far  as  the 


366 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


records  and  documents  give  us  information,  there  is 
reason  to  apprehend,  that  Mr.  Noyes,  like  Stoughton, 
another  old  bachelor,  never  recovered  his  mind  from 
the  frame  of  feeling  or  conviction  in  which  it  was 
during  the  proceedings.  His  name  is  not  found,  as 
are  those  of  other  ministers,  to  any  petitions,  memo¬ 
rials  or  certificates,  in  favor  of  the  sufferers  during 
the  trials,  or  of  reparation  to  their  memories  or  to  the 
feelings  of  their  friends.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
taken  any  part  in  arresting  the  delusion  or  rectifying 
the  public  mind. 

Of  Cotton  Mather,  more  is  required  to  be  said.  He 
aspired  to  be  considered  the  leading  champion  of  the 
Church,  and  the  most  successful  combatant  against  the 
Satanic  powers.  He  seems  to  have  longed  for  an  op¬ 
portunity  to  signalize  himself  in  this  particular  kind  of 
warfare ;  seized  upon  every  occurrence  that  would  admit 
of  such  a  coloring  to  represent  it  as  the  result  of  dia¬ 
bolical  agency  ;  circulated  in  his  numerous  publications 
as  many  tales  of  witchcraft  as  he  could  collect  through¬ 
out  New  and  Old  England,  and  repeatedly  endeavored 
to  get  up  cases  of  the  kind  in  Boston.  There  is 
some  ground  for  suspicion  that  he  was  instrumental 
in  originating  the  fanaticism  in  Salem ;  at  any  rate,  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  fomenting  it.  And  while  there 
is  evidence  that  he  endeavored,  after  the  delusion  sub¬ 
sided,  to  escape  the  disgrace  of  having  approved  of  the 
proceedings,  and  pretended  to  have  been  in  some 
measure  opposed  to  them,  it  can  be  too  clearly  shown 
that  he  was  secretly  and  cunningly  endeavoring  to 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


367 


renew  them  during  the  next  year  in  his  own  parish  in 
Boston.* 

Plow  blind  is  man  to  the  future  !  The  state  of 
things  which  Cotton  Mather  labored  to  bring  about,  in 
order  that  he  might  increase  his  own  influence  over  an 
infatuated  people,  by  being  regarded  by  them  as  mighty 

*  I  know  nothing  more  artful  and  jesuitical  than  his  attempts  to 
avoid  the  reproach  of  having  been  active  in  carrying  on  the  delusion 
in  Salem  and  elsewhere,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  keep  up  such  a 
degree  of  credulity  and  superstition  in  the  minds  of  the  people  as  to 
render  it  easy  to  plunge  them  into  it  again  at  the  first  favorable 
moment.  In  the  following  passages,  he  endeavors  to  escape  the  odium 
that  had  been  connected  with  the  prosecutions  :  — 

“  The  world  knows  how  many  pages  I  have  composed  and  pub¬ 
lished,  and  particular  gentlemen  in  the  government  know  how  many 
letters  I  have  written,  to  prevent  the  excessive  credit  of  spectral  ac¬ 
cusations. 

“  In  short,  I  do  humbly  but  freely  affirm  it,  that  there  is  not  a 
man  living  in  this  world,  who  has  been  more  desirous  than  the  poor 
man  I  to  shelter  my  neighbors  from  the  inconveniences  of  spectral 
outcries :  yea,  I  am  very  jealous  I  have  done  so  much  that  way  as  to 
sin  in  what  I  have  done ;  such  have  been  the  cowardice  and  fearful¬ 
ness  whereunto  my  regard  unto  the  dissatisfaction  of  other  people  has 
precipitated  me.  I  know  a  man  in  the  world,  who  has  thought  he  has 
been  able  to  convict  some  such  witches  as  ought  to  die ;  but  his  re¬ 
spect  unto  the  public  peace  has  caused  him  rather  to  try  whether  he 
could  not  renew  them  by  repentance.” 

In  his  Life  of  Sir  William  Phips,  he  endeavors  to  take  the  credit 
to  himself  of  having  doubted  the  propriety  of  the  proceedings  while 
they  were  in  progress.  This  work  was  published  without  his  name, 
in  order  that  he  might  commend  himself  with  more  freedom.  The 
advice  given  by  the  ministers  of  Boston  and  the  vicinity  to  the  gov¬ 
ernment  has  been  spoken  of.  Cotton  Mather  frequently  took  occasion 
to  applaud  and  magnify  the  merit  of  this  production.  In  one  of  his 
writings,  he  speaks  of  “  the  gracious  words  ”  it  contained.  In  his  Life 
of  Phips,  he  thus  modestly  takes  the  credit  of  its  authorship  to  him- 


368 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  cast  out  and  vanquish  evil  spirits,  and  as  able  to 
hold  Satan  himself  in  chains  by  his  prayers  and  his 
piety,  brought  him  at  length  into  such  disgrace  that 
his  power  was  broken  down,  and  he  became  the  object 
of  public  ridicule  and  open  insult.  And  the  excite¬ 
ment  that  had  been  produced  for  the  purpose  of 

self :  it  was  “  drawn  up,  at  their  (the  ministers’)  desire,  by  Mr.  Mather 
the  younger,  as  I  have  been  informed.”  And,  in  order  the  more 
effectually  to  give  the  impression  that  he  was  rather  opposed  to  the 
proceedings,  he  quotes  those  portions  of  the  paper  which  recommended 
caution  and  circumspection,  leaving  out  those  other  passages  in  which 
it  was  vehemently  urged  to  carry  the  proceedings  on  “  speedily  and 
vigorously.” 

This  single  circumstance  is  decisive  of  the  disingenuity  of  Dr. 
Mather.  As  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  government,  in  requesting  the 
advice  of  the  ministers,  to  ascertain  their  opinion  of  the  expediency 
of  continuing  the  prosecutions,  it  was  a  complete  and  deliberate  per¬ 
version  and  falsification  of  their  answer  to  omit  the  passages  which 
encouraged  the  proceedings,  and  to  record  those  only  which  recom¬ 
mended  caution  and  circumspection.  The  object  of  Mather  in  sup¬ 
pressing  the  important  parts  of  the  document  has,  however,  in  some 
measure  been  answered.  As  the  “  Magnalia,”  within  which  his  Life  of 
Phips  is  embraced,  is  the  usual  and  popular  source  of  information  and 
reference  respecting  the  topics  of  which  it  treats,  the  opinion  has  pre¬ 
vailed,  that  the  Boston  ministers,  especially  “  Mr.  Mather  the  younger,” 
endeavored  to  prevent  the  transactions  connected  with  the  trial  and 
execution  of  the  supposed  witches.  Unfortunately,  however,  for  the 
reputation  of  Cotton  Mather,  Hutchinson  has  preserved  the  address  of 
the  ministers  entire  :  and  it  appears  that  they  approved,  applauded,  and 
stimulated  the  prosecutions ;  and  that  the  people  of  Salem  and  the 
surrounding  country  were  the  victims  of  a  delusion,  the  principal 
promoters  of  which  have,  to  a  great  degree,  been  sheltered  from  re¬ 
proach  by  the  dishonest  artifice,  which  has  now  been  exposed. 

But,  like  other  ambitious  and  grasping  politicans,  he  was  anxious  to 
have  the  support  of  all  parties  at  the  same  time.  After  making  court 
to  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  prosecutions,  he  thus  commends 
himself  to  all  who  approved  of  them :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


869 


restoring  and  strengthening  the  influence  of  the  clerical 
and  spiritual  leaders  resulted  in  effects  which  reduced 
that  influence  to  a  still  lower  point.  The  intimate 
connection  of  Dr.  Mather  and  other  prominent  ministers 
with  the  witchcraft  delusion  brought  a  reproach  upon 
the  clergy  from  which  they  have  not  yet  recovered. 

“And  why,  after  all  my  unwearied  cares  and  pains  to  rescue  the 
miserable  from  the  lions  and  hears  of  hell  which  had  seized  them, 
and  after  all  my  studies  to  disappoint  the  devils  in  their  designs  to 
confound  my  neighborhood,  must  I  he  driven  to  the  necessity  of  an 
apology  ?  Truly,  the  hard  representations  wherewith  some  ill  men 
have  reviled  my  conduct,  and  the  countenance  which  other  men  have 
given  to  these  representations,  oblige  me  to  give  mankind  some 
account  of  my  behavior.  No  Christian  can  (I  say  none  but  evil- 
workers  can)  criminate  my  visiting  such  of  my  poor  flock  as  have  at 
any  time  fallen  under  the  terrible  and  sensible  molestations  of  evil 
angels.  Let  their  afflictions  have  been  what  they  will,  I  could  not  have 
answered  it  unto  my  glorious  Lord,  if  I  had  withheld  my  just  comforts 
and  counsels  from  them  ;  and,  if  I  have  also,  with  some  exactness, 
observed  the  methods  of  the  invisible  world,  when  they  have  thus  be¬ 
come  observable,  I  have  been  but  a  servant  of  mankind  in  doing  so : 
yea,  no  less  a  person  than  the  venerable  Baxter  has  more  than  once  or 
twice,  in  the  most  public  manner,  invited  mankind  to  thank  me  for 
that  service.” 

In  other  passages,  he  thus  continues  to  stimulate  and  encourage  the 
advocates  of  the  prosecutions  :  — 

“  Wherefore,  instead  of  all  apish  shouts  and  jeers  at  histories 
which  have  such  undoubted  confirmation  as  that  no  man  that  has 
breeding  enough  to  regard  the  common  laws  of  human  society  will 
offer  to  doubt  of  them,  it  becomes  us  rather  to  adore  the  goodness  of 
God,  who  does  not  permit  such  things  every  day  to  befall  us  all,  as  he 
sometimes  did  permit  to  befall  some  few  of  our  miserable  neighbors. 

“  And  it  is  a  very  glorious  thing  that  I  have  now  to  mention :  The 
devils  have,  with  most  horrid  operations,  broke  in  upon  our  neigh¬ 
borhood  ;  and  God  has  at  such  a  rate  overruled  all  the  fury  and  malice 
of  those  devils,  that  all  the  afflicted  have  not  only  been  delivered,  but, 
vol.  ii.  24 


370 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


In  addition  to  the  designing  exertions  of  ambitious 
ecclesiastics,  and  the  benevolent  and  praiseworthy 
efforts  of  those  whose  only  aim  was  to  promote  a  real 
and  thorough  reformation  of  religion,  all  the  passions 
of  our  nature  stood  ready  to  throw  their  concentrated 
energy  into  the  excitement  (as  they  are  sure  to  do, 
whatever  may  be  its  character),  so  soon  as  it  became 
sufficiently  strong  to  encourage  their  action. 

The  whole  force  of  popular  superstition,  all  the 

I  hope,  also  savingly  brought  home  unto  God  ;  and  the  reputation  of 
no  one  good  person  in  the  world  has  been  damaged,  but,  instead 
thereof,  the  souls  of  many,  especially  of  the  rising  generation,  have 
been  thereby  awakened  unto  some  acquaintance  with  religion.  Our 
young  people,  who  belonged  unto  the  praying-meetings,  of  both  sexes, 
apart,  would  ordinarily  spend  whole  nights,  by  whole  weeks  together, 
in  prayei's  and  psalms  upon  these  occasions,  in  which  devotions  the 
devils  could  get  nothing  but,  like  fools,  a  scourge  for  their  own 
backs  :  and  some  scores  of  other  young  people,  who  were  strangers  to 
real  piety,  were  now  struck  with  the  lively  demonstrations  of  hell 
evidently  set  forth  before  their  eyes,  when  they  saw  persons  cruelly 
frighted,  wounded  and  starved  by  devils,  and  scalded  with  burning 
brimstone,  and  yet  so  preserved  in  this  tortured  state,  as  that,  at  the 
end  of  one  month’s  wretchedness,  they  were  as  able  still  to  undergo 
another ;  so  that,  of  these  also,  it  might  now  be  said,  ‘  Behold,  they 
pray.’  In  the  whole,  the  Devil  got  just  nothing,  but  God  got  praises, 
Christ  got  subjects,  the  Holy  Spirit  got  temples,  the  church  got 
additions,  and  the  souls  of  men  got  everlasting  benefits.  I  am  not  so 
vain  as  to  say  that  any  wisdom  or  virtue  £>f  mine  did  contribute  unto 
this  good  order  of  things ;  but  I  am  so  just  as  to  say,  I  did  not  hinder 
this  good.” 

I  cannot,  indeed,  resist  the  conviction,  that,  notwithstanding  all  his 
attempts  to  appear  dissatisfied,  after  they  had  become  unpopular,  with 
the  occurrences  in  the  Salem  trials,  he  looked  upon  them  with  secret 
pleasure,  and  would  have  been  glad  to  have  had  them  repeated  in 
Boston. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


371 


fanatical  propensities  of  the  ignorant  and  deluded  mul¬ 
titude,  united  with  the  best  feelings  of  our  nature  to 
heighten  the  fury  of  the  storm.  Piety  was  indignant 
at  the  supposed  rebellion  against  the  sovereignty  of 
God,  and  was  roused  to  an  extreme  of  agitation  and 
apprehension  in  witnessing  such  a  daring  and  fierce 
assault  by  the  Devil  and  his  adherents  upon  the 
churches  and  the  cause  of  the  gospel.  Virtue  was 
shocked  at  the  tremendous  guilt  of  those  who  were 
believed  to  have  entered  the  diabolical  confederacy ; 
while  public  order  and  security  stood  aghast,  amidst 
the  invisible,  the  supernatural,  the  infernal,  and 
apparently  the  irresistible  attacks  that  were  making 
upon  the  foundations  of  society.  In  baleful  com¬ 
bination  with  principles,  good  in  themselves,  thus 
urging  the  passions  into  wild  operation,  there  were 
all  the  wicked  and  violent  affections  to  which  human¬ 
ity  is  liable.  Theological  bitterness,  personal  animosi¬ 
ties,  local  controversies,  private  feuds,  long-cherished 
grudges,  and  professional  jealousies,  rushed  forward, 
and  raised  their  discordant  voices,  to  swell  the  horrible 
din ;  credulity  rose  with  its  monstrous  and  ever-ex¬ 
panding  form,  on  the  ruins  of  truth,  reason,  and  the 
senses ;  malignity  and  cruelty  rode  triumphant  through 
the  storm,  by  whose  fury  every  mild  and  gentle  senti¬ 
ment  had  been  shipwrecked  ;  and  revenge,  smiling  in 
the  midst  of  the  tempest,  welcomed  its  desolating 
wrath  as  it  dashed  the  mangled  objects  of  its  hate 
along  the  shore. 

The  treatment  of  the  prisoners,  by  the  administra- 


372 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  "VILLAGE. 


tive  and  subordinate  officers  in  charge  of  them,  there 
is  reason  to  apprehend,  was  more  than  ordinarily 
harsh  and  unfeeling.  The  fate  of  Willard  prevented 
expressions  of  kindness  towards  them.  The  crime 
of  which  they  were  accused  put  them  outside  of  the 
pale  of  human  charities.  All  who  believed  them  guilty 
looked  upon  them,  not  only  with  horror,  but  hate.  To 
have  deliberately  abandoned  God  and  heaven,  the 
salvation  of  Christ  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  was 
regarded  as  detestable,  execrable,  and  utterly  and  for 
ever  damnable.  This  was  the  universal  feeling  at 
the  time  when  the  fanaticism  was  at  its  height ;  or, 
if  there  were  any  dissenters,  they  dared  not  show 
themselves.  What  the  poor  innocent  sufferers  ex¬ 
perienced  of  cruelty,  wrong,  and  outrage  from  this 
cause,  it  is  impossible  for  words  to  tell.  It  left  them 
in  prison  to  neglect,  ignominious  ill-treatment,  and 
abusive  language  from  the  menials  having  charge  of 
them  ;  it  made  their  trials  a  brutal  mockery  ;  it 
made  the  pathway  to  the  gallows  a  series  of  insults 
from  an  exasperated  mob.  If  dear  relatives  or  faith¬ 
ful  friends  kept  near  them,  they  did  it  at  the  peril 
of  their  lives,  and  were  forbidden  to  utter  the  senti¬ 
ments  with  which  their  hearts  were  breaking.  There 
was  no  sympathy  for  those  who  died,  or  for  those 
who  mourned. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  us,  at  this  distance  of  time, 
and  with  the  intelligence  prevalent  in  this  age,  that 
persons  of  such  known,  established,  and  eminent  repu¬ 
tation  as  many  of  those  whose  cases  have  been  par- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


373 


ticularly  noticed,  could  possibly  have  been  imagined 
guilty  of  the  crime  imputed  to  them.  The  question 
arises  in  every  mind,  Why  did  not  their  characters 
save  them  from  conviction,  and  even  from  suspicion  ? 
The  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  peculiar  views  then 
entertained  of  the  power  and  agency  of  Satan.  It  was 
believed  that  it  would  be  one  of  the  signs  of  bis  coming 
to  destroy  the  Church  of  Christ,  that  some  of  the 
“elect”  would  be  seduced  into  his  service,  —  that  he 
would  drag  captive  in  his  chains,  and  pervert  into 
instruments  to  further  his  wicked  cause,  many  who 
stood  among  the  highest  in  the  confidence  of  Chris¬ 
tians.  This  belief  made  them  more  vehement  in  their 
proceedings  against  ministers,  church-members,  and 
persons  of  good  repute,  who  were  proved,  by  the  over¬ 
whelming  evidence  of  the  “  afflicted  children  ”  and 
the  confessing  witches,  to  have  made  a  compact  with 
the  Devil.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  Mr.  Bur¬ 
roughs,  and  all  aocused  persons  of  the  highest  repu¬ 
tation  before  for  piety  and  worth,  especially  all  who 
had  been  professors  of  religion  and  accredited  church- 
members,  suffered  more  than  others  from  the  severity 
of  the  judges  and  executive  officers  of  the  law,  and 
from  the  rage  and  hatred  of  the  people.  It  was  in¬ 
deed  necessary,  in  order  to  keep  up  the  delusion 
and  maintain  the  authority  of  the  prosecutions,  to 
break  down  the  influence  of  those  among  the  accused 
and  the  sufferers  who  had  stood  the  highest,  and  bore 
themselves  the  best  through  the  fiery  ordeal  of  the 
examinations,  trials,  and  executions. 


374 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


It  is  indeed  a  very  remarkable  fact,  which  has 
justly  been  enlarged  upon  by  several  who  have  had 
their  attention  turned  to  this  subject,  that,  of  the 
whole  number  that  suffered,  none,  in  the  final  scene, 
lost  their  fortitude  for  a  moment.  Many  were  quite 
aged  ;  a  majority,  women,  of  whom  some,  brought  up 
in  delicacy,  were  wholly  unused  to  rough  treatment 
or  physical  suffering.  They  must  have  undergone 
the  most  dreadful  hardships,  suddenly  snatched  from 
their  families  and  homes ;  exposed  to  a  torrent  of 
false  accusations  imputing  to  them  the  most  odious, 
shameful,  and  devilish  crimes ;  made  objects  of  the 
abhorrence  of  their  neighbors,  and,  through  the  noto¬ 
riety  of  the  affair,  of  the  world ;  carried  to  and  fro, 
over  rugged  roads,  from  jail  to  jail,  too  often  by  un¬ 
feeling  sub-officials ;  immured  in  crowded,  filthy,  and 
noisome  prisons ;  heavily  loaded  with  chains,  in  dun¬ 
geons  ;  left  to  endure  insufficient  attention  to  neces¬ 
sary  personal  wants,  often  with  inadequate  food  and 
clothing ;  all  expressions  of  sympathy  for  them  with¬ 
held  and  forbidden,  —  those  who  ought  to  have  been 
their  comforters  denouncing  them  in  the  most  awful 
language,  and  consigning  them  to  the  doom  of  ex- 
communication  from  the  church  on  earth  and  from 
the  hope  of  heaven.  Surely,  there  have  been  few 
cases  in  the  dark  and  mournful  annals  of  human 
suffering  and  wrong,  few  instances  of  “  man’s  in¬ 
humanity  to  man,”  to  be  compared  with  what  the  vic¬ 
tims  of  this  tragedy  endured.  Their  bearing  through 
the  whole,  from  the  arrest  to  the  scaffold,  reflects 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


375 


credit  upon  our  common  nature.  The  fact  that  Ward- 
well  lost  his  firmness,  for  a  time,  ought  not  to  exclude 
his  name  from  the  honored  list.  Its  claim  to  be 
enrolled  on  it  was  nobly  retrieved  by  his  recantation, 
and  his  manly  death. 

There  is  one  consideration  that  imparts  a  higher 
character  to  the  deportment  of  these  persons  than 
almost  any  of  the  tests  to  which  the  firmness  of  the 
mind  of  man  has  ever  been  exposed.  There  was 
nothing  outside  of  the  mind  to  hold  it  up,  but  every 
thing  to  bear  it  down.  All  that  they  had  in  this  world, 
all  on  which  they  could  rest  a  hope  for  the  next,  was 
the  consciousness  of  their  innocence.  Their  fidelity 
to  this  sense  of  innocence  —  for  a  lie  would  have  saved 
them  —  their  unfaltering  allegiance  to  this  conscious¬ 
ness  ;  the  preservation  of  a  calm,  steadfast,  serene 
mind ;  their  faith  and  their  prayers,  rising  above  the 
maledictions  of  a  maniac  mob,  in  devotion  to  God  and 
forgiveness  to  men,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Martha  Corey 
and  George  Burroughs,  in  clear  and  collected  expres¬ 
sions, —  this  was  truly  sublime.  It  was  appreciated, 
at  the  time,  by  many  a  heart  melted  back  to  its 
humanity ;  and  paved  the  way  for  the  deliverance  of 
the  world,  we  trust  for  ever,  from  all  such  delusions, 
horrors,  and  spectacles.  The  sufferers  in  1692  deserve 
to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  for  having  illus¬ 
trated  the  dignity  of  which  our  nature  is  capable ;  for 
having  shown  that  integrity  of  conscience  is  an  armor 
which  protects  the  peace  of  the  soul  against  all  the 
powers  that  can  assail  it ;  and  for  having  given  an 


376 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


example,  that  will  be  seen  of  all  and  in  all  times,  of 
a  courage,  constancy,  and  faithfulness  of  which  all 
are  capable,  and  which  can  give  the  victory  over 
infirmities  of  age,  weaknesses  and  pains  of  body,  and 
the  most  appalling  combination  of  outrages  to  the 
mind  and  heart  that  can  be  accumulated  by  the  vio¬ 
lence  and  the  wrath  of  man.  Superstition  and  igno¬ 
rance  consigned  their  names  to  obloquy,  and  shrouded 
them  in  darkness.  But  the  day  has  dawned  ;  the  shad¬ 
ows  are  passing  away ;  truth  has  risen ;  the  reign  of 
superstition  is  over ;  and  justice  will  be  done  to  all 
who  have  been  true  to  themselves,  and  stood  fast 
to  the  integrity  of  their  souls,  even  to  the  death. 

The  place  selected  for  the  executions  is  worthy  of 
notice.  It  was  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  jail, 
and  could  be  reached  only  by  a  circuitous  and  difficult 
route.  It  is  a  fatiguing  enterprise  to  get  at  it  now, 
although  many  passages  that  approach  it  from  some 
directions  have  since  been  opened.  But  it  was  a  point 
where  the  spectacle  would  be  witnessed  by  the  whole 
surrounding  country  far  and  near,  being  on  the  brow 
of  the  highest  eminence  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town. 
As  it  was  believed  by  the  people  generally  that  they 
were  engaged  in  a  great  battle  with  Satan,  one  of 
whose  titles  was  “  the  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the 
Air,”  perhaps  they  chose  that  spot  to  execute  his  con¬ 
federates,  because,  in  going  to  that  high  point,  they 
were  flaunting  him  in  his  face,  celebrating  their  tri¬ 
umph  over  him  in  his  own  realm.  There  is  no  contem¬ 
poraneous  nor  immediately  subsequent  record,  that 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


377 


the  executions  took  place  on  the  spot  assigned  by 
tradition ;  but  that  tradition  has  been  uniform  and 
continuous,  and  appears  to  be  verified  by  a  singular 
item  of  evidence  that  has  recently  come  to  light.  A 
letter  written  by  the  late  venerable  Dr.  Holyoke  to  a 
friend  at  a  distance,  dated  Salem,  Nov.  25,  1791,  has 
found  its  way  back  to  the  possession  of  one  of  his  grand¬ 
daughters,  which  contains  the  following  passage  :  “  In 
the  last  month,  there  died  a  man  in  this  town,  by  the 
name  of  John  Symonds,  aged  a  hundred  years  lacking 
about  six  months,  having  been  born  in  the  famous  ’92. 
He  lias  told  me  that  his  nurse  had  often  told  him,  that, 
while  she  was  attending  his  mother  at  the  time  she  lay 
in  with  him,  she  saw,  from  the  chamber  windows,  those 
unhappy  people  hanging  on  Gallows’  Hill,  who  were 
executed  for  witches  by  the  delusion  of  the  times.” 
John  Symonds  lived  and  died  near  the  southern  end 
of  Beverly  Bridge,  on  the  south  side  of  what  is  now 
Bridge  Street.  He  was  buried  from  his  house,  and 
Dr.  Bentley  made  the  funeral  prayer,  in  which  he  is 
said  to  have  used  this  language :  “  0  God !  the  man 
who  with  his  own  hands  felled  the  trees,  and  hewed 
the  timbers,  and  erected  the  house  in  which  we  are 
now  assembled,  was  the.  ancestor  of  him  whose  re¬ 
mains  we  are  about  to  inter.”  It  is  inferrible  from 
this  that  Symonds  was  born  in  the  house  from  which 
he  was  buried.  Gallows  Hill,  now  “  Witch  Hill  ”  is  in 
full  view  from  that  spot,  and  would  be  from  the 
chamber  windows  of  a  house  there,  at  any  time,  even 
in  the  season  when  intervening  trees  were  in  their 


378 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


fullest  foliage,  while  no  other  point  in  that  direction 
would  he  discernible.  From  the  only  other  locality 
of  persons  of  the  name  of  Symonds,  at  that  time, 
in  North  Fields  near  the  North  Bridge,  Witch  Hill 
is  also  visible,  and  the  only  point  in  that  direction 
that  then  would  have  been. 

“  Witch  Hill  ”  is  a  part  of  an  elevated  ledge  of 
rock  on  the  western  side  of  the  city  of  Salem,  broken 
at  intervals ;  beginning  at  Legg’s  Hill,  and  trending 
northerly.  The  turnpike  from  Boston  enters  Salem 
through  one  of  the  gaps  in  this  ridge,  which  has  been 
widened,  deepened,  and  graded.  North  of  the  turn¬ 
pike,  it  rises  abruptly  to  a  considerable  elevation,  called 
“  Norman’s  Rocks.”  At  a  distance  of  between  three 
and  four  hundred  feet,  it  sinks  again,  making  a  wide 
and  deep  gulley ;  and  then,  about  a  third  of  a  mile 
from  the  turnpike,  it  re-appears,  in  a  precipitous  and, 
at  its  extremity,  inaccessible  cliff,  of  the  height  of 
fifty  or  sixty  feet.  Its  southern  and  western  aspect, 
as  seen  from  the  rough  land  north  of  the  turnpike,  is 
given  in  the  headpiece  of  the  Third  Part,  at  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  this  volume.  Its  sombre  and  desolate  appear¬ 
ance  admits  of  little  variety  of  delineation.  It  is 
mostly  a  bare  and  naked  ledge.  At  the  top  of  this 
cliff,  on  the  southern  brow  of  the  eminence,  the  exe¬ 
cutions  are  supposed  to  have  taken  place.  The  out¬ 
line  rises  a  little  towards  the  north,  but  soon  begins  to 
fall  off  to  the  general  level  of  the  country.  From  that 
direction  only  can  the  spot  be  easily  reached.  It  is 
hard  to  climb  the  western  side,  impossible  to  clamber 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


379 


up  the  southern  face.  Settlement  creeps  down  from 
the  north,  and  has  partially  ascended  the  eastern  ac¬ 
clivity,  but  can  never  reach  the  brink.  Scattered 
patches  of  soil  are  too  thin  to  tempt  cultivation,  and 
the  rock  is  too  craggy  and  steep  to  allow  occupation. 
An  active  and  flourishing  manufacturing  industry 
crowds  up  to  its  base ;  hut  a  considerable  surface  at 
the  top  will  for  ever  remain  an  open  space.  It  is,  as 
it  were,  a  platform  raised  high  in  air. 

A  magnificent  panorama  of  ocean,  island,  headland, 
bay,  river,  town,  field,  and  forest  spreads  out  and 
around  to  view.  On  a  clear  summer  day,  the  picture 
can  scarcely  be  surpassed.  Facing  the  sun  and  the 
sea,  and  the  evidences  of  the  love  and  bounty  of 
Providence  shining  over  the  landscape,  the  last  look 
of  earth  must  have  suggested  to  the  sufferers  a  wide 
contrast  between  the  mercy  of  the  Creator  and  the 
wrath  of  his  creatures.  They  beheld  the  face  of  the 
blessed  God  shining  upon  them  in  his  works,  and  they 
passed  with  renewed  and  assured  faith  into  his  more 
immediate  presence.  The  elevated  rock,  uplifted  by 
the  divine  hand,  will  stand  while  the  world  stands, 
in  bold  relief,  and  can  never  be  obscured  by  the 
encroachments  of  society  or  the  structures  of  art, — 
a  fitting  memorial  of  their  constancy. 

When,  in  some  coming  day,  a  sense  of  justice,  ap¬ 
preciation  of  moral  firmness,  sympathy  for  suffering 
innocence,  the  diffusion  of  refined  sensibility,  a  dis¬ 
criminating  discernment  of  what  is  really  worthy  of 
commemoration  among  men,  a  rectified  taste,  a  gen- 


380 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


erous  public  spirit,  and  gratitude  for  the  light  that  fl| 
surrounds  and  protects  us  against  error,  folly,  and  u 
fanaticism,  shall  demand  the  rearing  of  a  suitable  | 
monument  to  the  memory  of  those  who  in  1692  pre¬ 
ferred  death  to  a  falsehood,  the  pedestal  for  the  lofty 
column  will  be  found  ready,  reared  by  the  Creator  on 
a  foundation  that  can  never  be  shaken  while  the  globe 
endures,  or  worn  away  by  the  elements,  man,  or  time 
—  the  brow  of  Witch  Hill.  On  no  other  spot  could 
such  a  tribute  be  more  worthily  bestowed,  or  more 
conspicuously  displayed. 

The  effects  of  the  delusion  upon  the  country  at 
large  were  very  disastrous.  It  cast  its  shadows  over 
a  broad  surface,  and  they  darkened  the  condition  of 
generations.  The  material  interests  of  the  people 
long  felt  its  blight.  Breaking  out  at  the  opening  of 
the  season,  it  interrupted  the  planting  and  cultivating 
of  the  grounds.  It  struck  an  entire  summer  out  of 
one  year,  and  broke  in  upon  another.  The  fields  were 
neglected ;  fences,  roads,  barns,  and  even  the  meeting¬ 
house,  went  into  disrepair.  Burdens  were  accumu¬ 
lated  upon  the  already  over-taxed  resources  of  the 
people.  An  actual  scarcity  of  provisions,  amounting 
almost  to  a  famine,  continued  for  some  time  to  press 
upon  families.  Farms  were  brought  under  mortgage 
or  sacrificed,  and  large  numbers  of  the  people  were 
dispersed.  One  locality  in  the  village,  which  was  the 
scene  of  this  wild  and  tragic  fanaticism,  bears  to  this 
day  the  marks  of  the  blight  then  brought  upon  it. 
Although  in  the  centre  of  a  town  exceeding  almost 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


381 


all  others  in  its  agricultural  development  and  thrift, 
—  every  acre  elsewhere  showing  the  touch  of  modern 
improvement  and  culture,  —  the  “old  meeting-house 
road,”  from  the  crossing  of  the  Esses  Railroad  to  the 
point  where  it  meets  the  road  leading  north  from  Tap- 
leyville,  has  to-day  a  singular  appearance  of  abandon¬ 
ment.  The  Surveyor  of  Highways  ignores  it.  The 
old,  gray,  moss-covered  stone  walls  are  dilapidated, 
and  thrown  out  of  line.  Not  a  house  is  on  either 
of  its  borders,  and  no  gate  opens  or  path  leads  to 
any.  Neglect  and  desertion  brood  over  the  contiguous 
grounds.  Indeed,  there  is  but  one  house  standing 
directly  on  the  roadside  until  you  reach  the  vicinity  of 
the  site  of  the  old  meeting-house ;  and  that  is  owned 
and  occupied  by  a  family  that  bear  the  name  and  are 
the  direct  descendants  of  Rebecca  Nurse.  On  both 
sides  there  are  the  remains  of  cellars,  which  declare 
that  once  it  was  lined  by  a  considerable  population. 
Along  this  road  crowds  thronged  in  1692,  for  weeks 
and  months,  to  witness  the  examinations. 

The  ruinous  results  were  not  confined  to  the  village, 
but  extended  more  or  less  over  the  country  generally. 
Excitement,  wrought  up  to  consternation,  spread  every¬ 
where.  People  left  their  business  and  families,  and 
came  from  distant  points,  to  gratify  their  curiosity, 
and  enable  themselves  to  form  a  judgment  of  the  char¬ 
acter  of  the  phenomena  here  exhibited.  Strangers 
from  all  parts  swelled  the  concourse,  gathered  to 
behold  the  sufferings  of  “  the  afflicted  ”  as  manifested 
at  the  examinations ;  and  flocked  to  the  surrounding 


382 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


eminences  and  tlie  grounds  immediately  in  front  of 
Witch  Hill,  to  catch  a  view  of  the  convicts  as  they 
approached  the  place  selected  for  their  execution, 
offered  their  dying  prayers,  and  hung  suspended  high 
in  air.  Such  scenes  always  draw  together  great  multi¬ 
tudes.  None  have  possessed  a  deeper,  stronger,  or 
stranger  attraction ;  and  never  has  the  dread  spectacle 
been  held  out  to  view  over  a  wider  area,  or  from  so 
conspicuous  a  spot.  The  assembling  of  such  multi¬ 
tudes  so  often,  for  such  a  length  of  time,  and  from 
such  remote  quarters,  must  have  been  accompanied  and 
followed  by  wasteful,  and  in  all  respects  deleterious, 
effects.  The  continuous  or  frequently  repeated  ses¬ 
sions  of  the  magistrates,  grand  jury,  and  jury  of 
trials ;  and  the  attendance  of  witnesses  summoned 
from  other  towns,  or  brought  from  beyond  the  juris¬ 
diction  of  the  Province,  and  of  families  and  parties 
interested  specially  in  the  proceedings,  —  must  have 
occasioned  an  extensive  and  protracted  interruption 
of  the  necessary  industrial  pursuits  of  society,  and 
heavily  increased  the  public  burdens. 

The  destruction  dealt  upon  particular  families  ex¬ 
tended  to  so  many  as  to  constitute  in  the  aggregate  a 
vast,  wide-spread  calamity.* 

*  The  following  is  a  statement  of  the  loss  inflicted  upon  the  estate 
of  George  Jacobs,  Sr.  The  property  of  the  son  was  utterly  de¬ 
stroyed. 

“  An  Account  of  what  was  seized  and  taken  away  from  my  Father's  Estate , 
George  Jacobs ,  Sr.,  late  of  Salem,  deceased ,  by  Sheriff  Corwin  and  his 
Assistants  in  the  year  1692. 

“  When  my  said  father  was  executed,  and  I  was  forced  to  fly  out  of  the 
country,  to  my  great  damage  and  distress  of  my  family,  my  wife  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


883 


The  facts  that  belong  to  the  story  of  the  witchcraft 
delusion  of  1692,  or  that  may  in  any  way  explain  or 
illustrate  it,  so  far  as  they  can  be  gathered  from  the 
imperfect  and  scattered  records  and  papers  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  have  now  been  laid  before  you. 
But  there  are  one  or  two  inquiries  that  force  themselves 
upon  thoughtful  minds,  which  demand  consideration 
before  we  close  the  subject. 


daughter  imprisoned,  —  viz  ,  my  wife  eleven  months,  and  my  daughter 
seven  months  in  prison,  —  it  cost  them  twelve  pounds  money  to  the  officers, 
besides  other  charges. 


Five  cows,  fair  large  cattle,  £3  per  cow . £15  00  0 

Eight  loads  of  English  hay  taken  out  of  the  barn,  35s.  per  load  .  14  0  0 
A  parcel  of  apples  that  made  24  barrels  cider  to  halves;  viz.,  12 

barrels  cider,  8s.  per  barrel . 4  16  0 

Sixty  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  2s.  6 d.  per  bushel . 7  10  0 

A  mare . 200 


Two  good  feather  beds,  and  furniture,  rugs,  blankets,  sheets,  bol¬ 


sters  and  pillows . 10  0  0 

Two  brass  kettles,  cost . 600 

Money,  12s. ;  a  large  gold  thumb  ring,  20s . 112  0 

Five  swine . 3  15  0 


A  quantity  of  pewter  which  I  cannot  exactly  know  the  worth, 
perhaps  . 


3  0  0 


67  13  0 


Besides  abundance  of  small  things,  meat  in  the  house,  fowls, 

chairs,  and  other  things  took  clear  away . above,  12  0  0 

79  13  0 


“  George  Jacobs.” 


When  Edward  Bishop  and  his  wife  Sarah  were  arrested,  household 
goods  which  were  valued  by  the  sheriff  himself  at  ten  pounds,  —  he 
refusing  that  sum  for  their  restitution, — six  cows,  twenty -four  swine, 
forty-six  sheep,  were  taken  from  his  farm.  The  imprisonment  of  him¬ 
self  and  wife  (prior  to  their  escape)  aggregated  thirty-seven  weeks. 
Ten  shillings  a  week  for  board,  and  other  charges  and  prison  fees 


384 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


What  are  we  to  think  of  those  persons  who  com¬ 
menced  and  continued  the  accusations,  —  the  “afflict¬ 
ed  children”  and  their  associates? 

In  some  instances  and  to  some  extent,  the  steps 
they  took  and  the  testimony  they  bore  may  be  ex¬ 
plained  by  referring  to  the  mysterious  energies  of  the 
imagination,  the  power  of  enthusiasm,  the  influence 
of  sympathy,  and  tlih  general  prevalence  of  credulity, 

amounting  to  five  pounds,  were  assessed  upon  his  estate,  and  taken  by 
distraint.  A  family  of  twelve  children  was  left  without  any  to  direct 
or  care  for  them,  and  the  product  of  the  farm  for  that  year  wholly 
cut  oft'. 

There  were  taken  from  the  estate  of  Samuel  Wardwell,  who  was 
executed,  five  cows,  a  heifer  and  yearling,  a  horse,  nine  hogs,  eight 
loads  of  hay,  six  acres  of  standing  corn,  and  a  set  of  carpenters’  tools. 
From  the  estate  of  Dorcas  Hoar,  a  widow,  there  were  taken  two 
cows,  an  ox  and  mare,  four  pigs,  bed,  bed-curtains  and  bedding,  and 
other  household  stuff. 

Persons  apprehended  were  made  to  pay  all  charges  of  every  kind 
for  their  maintenance,  fuel,  clothes,  expenses  of  transportation  from 
jail  to  jail,  and  inexorable  court  and  prison  fees.  The  usual  fee  to  the 
clerk  of  the  courts  was  £1.  17 s.  5 d.,  sometimes  more ;  sometimes,  al¬ 
though  very  rarely,  a  little  less.  He  must  have  received  a  large 
amount  of  money  in  the  aggregate  that  year.  The  prisoners  were 
charged  for  every  paper  that  was  drawn  up.  If  a  reprieve  was  ob¬ 
tained,  there  was  a  fee.  When  discharged,  there  was  a  fee.  The 
expenses  of  the  executions,  even  hangmen’s  fees,  were  levied  on  the 
families  of  the  sufferers.  Abraham  Foster,  whose  mother  died  in 
prison,  to  get  her  body  for  burial,  had  to  pay  £2.  10s. 

When  the  value  of  money  at  that  time  is  considered,  and  we  bear 
in  mind  that  most  of  the  persons  apprehended  were  farmers,  who 
have  but  little  cash  on  hand,  and  that  these  charges  were  levied  on 
their  stock,  crops,  and  furniture  in  their  absence,  and  in  the  un¬ 
restrained  exercise  of  arbitrary  will,  by  the  sheriff  or  constables,  we 
can  judge  how  utterly  ruinous  the  operation  must  have  been. 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE.  385 

ignorance,  superstition,  and  fanaticism  at  the  time ; 
and  it  is  not  probable,  that,  when  they  began,  they 
had  any  idea  of  the  tremendous  length  to  which 
they  were  finally  led  on. 

It  was  perhaps  their  original  design  to  gratify  a  love 
of  notoriety  or  of  mischief  by  creating  a  sensation  and 
excitement  in  their  neighborhood,  or,  at  the  worst,  to 
wreak  their  vengeance  upon  one  or  two  individuals 
who  had  offended  them.  They  soon,  however,  became 
intoxicated  by  the  terrible  success  of  their  imposture, 
and  were  swept  along  by  the  frenzy  they  had  occa¬ 
sioned.  It  would  be  much  more  congenial  with  our 
feelings  to  believe,  that  these  misguided  and  wretched 
young  persons  early  in  the  proceedings  became  them¬ 
selves  victims  of  the  delusion  into  which  they  plunged 
every  one  else.  But  we  are  forbidden  to  form  this 
charitable  judgment  by  the  manifestations  of  art  and 
contrivance,  of  deliberate  cunning  and  cool  malice, 
they  exhibited  to  the  end.  Once  or  twice  they  were 
caught  in  their  own  snare ;  and  nothing  but  the 
blindness  of  the  bewildered  community  saved  them 
from  disgraceful  exposure  and  well-deserved  punish¬ 
ment.  They  appeared  as  the  prosecutors  of  every 
poor  creature  that  was  tried,  and  seemed  ready  to 
bear  testimony  against  any  one  upon  whom  suspicion 
might  happen  to  fall.  It  is  dreadful  to  reflect  upon 
the  enormity  of  their  wickedness,  if  they  were  con¬ 
scious  of  imposture  throughout.  It  seems  to  tran¬ 
scend  the  capabilities  of  human  crime.  There  is, 
perhaps,  a  slumbering  element  in  the  heart  of  man, 

25 


VOL.  II. 


386 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


that  sleeps  for  ever  in  the  bosom  of  the  innocent  and 
good,  and  requires  the  perpetration  of  a  great  sin 
to  wake  it  into  action,  but  which,  when  once  aroused, 
impels  the  transgressor  onward  with  increasing  mo¬ 
mentum,  as  the  descending  ball  is  accelerated  in  its 
course.  It  may  be  that  crime  begets  an  appetite  for 
crime,  which,  like  all  other  appetites,  is  not  quieted 
but  inflamed  by  gratification. 

Their  precise  moral  condition,  the  degree  of  guilt 
to  be  ascribed,  and  the  sentence  to  be  passed  upon 
them,  can  only  be  determined  by  a  considerate  re¬ 
view  of  all  the  circumstances  and  influences  around 
them. 

For  a  period  embracing  about  two  months,  they  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  meeting  together,  and  spending 
the  long  winter  evenings,  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house,  prac¬ 
tising  the  arts  of  fortune-telling,  jugglery,  and  magic. 
What  they  had  heard  in  the  traditions  and  fables  of 
a  credulous  and  superstitious  age,  —  stories  handed 
down  in  the  interior  settlements,  circulated  in  com¬ 
panies  gathered  around  the  hearths  of  farmhouses, 
indulging  the  excitements  of  terrified  imaginations ; 
filling  each  other’s  minds  with  wondrous  tales  of 
second-sight,  ghosts  and  spirits  from  the  unseen  world, 
together  with  what  the  West-Indian  or  South- Amer- 
ican  slaves  could  add,  —  was  for  a  long  time  the  food 
of  their  fancies.  They  experimented  continually  upon 
what  was  the  spiritualism  of  their  day,  and  grew 
familiar  with  the  imagery  and  the  exhibitions  of  the 
marvellous.  The  prevalent  notions  concerning  witch- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


887 


craft  operations  and  spectral  manifestations  came  into 
full  effect  among  them.  Living  in  the  constant  con¬ 
templation  of  such  things,  their  minds  became  inflamed 
and  bewildered  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  they  grew  ex¬ 
pert  in  practising  and  exhibiting  the  forms  of  pretended 
supernaturalism,  the  conditions  of  diabolical  distrac¬ 
tion,  and  the  terrors  of  demonology.  Apparitions  rose 
before  them,  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  past  and  of 
the  future.  They  beheld  the  present  spectres  of  per¬ 
sons  then  bodily  far  distant.  They  declared  in  lan¬ 
guage,  fits,  dreams,  or  trance,  the  immediate  operations 
upon  themselves  of  the  Devil,  by  the  agency  of  his 
confederates.  Their  sufferings,  while  thus  under  “  an 
evil  hand,”  were  dreadful  to  behold,  and  soon  drew 
wondering  and  horror-struck  crowds  around  them. 

At  this  point,  if  Mr.  Parris,  the  ministers,  and  magis¬ 
trates  had  done  their  duty,  the  mischief  might  have 
been  stopped.  The  girls  ought  to  have  been  rebuked 
for  their  dangerous  and  forbidden  sorceries  and  divi¬ 
nations,  their  meetings  broken  up,  and  all  such  tamper¬ 
ings  with  alleged  supernaturalism  and  spiritualism 
frowned  down.  Instead  of  this,  the  neighboring  minis¬ 
ters  were  summoned  to  meet  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house 
to  witness  the  extraordinary  doings  of  the  girls,  and 
all  they  did  was  to  indorse,  and  pray  over,  them. 
Countenance  was  thus  given  to  their  pretensions,  and 
the  public  confidence  in  the  reality  of  their  state¬ 
ments  established.  Magistrates  from  the  town,  church- 
members,  leading  people,  and  people  of  all  sorts,  flocked 
to  witness  the  awful  power  of  Satan,  as  displayed  in 


388 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  tortures  and  contortions  of  the  “  afflicted  chil¬ 
dren  ;  ”  who  became  objects  of  wonder,  so  far  as 
their  feats  were  regarded,  and  of  pity  in  view  of  their 
agonies  and  convulsions. 

The  aspect  of  the  evidence  rather  favors  the  sup¬ 
position,  that  the  girls  originally  had  no  design  of 
accusing,  or  bringing  injury  upon,  any  one.  But 
the  ministers  at  Parris’s  house,  physicians  and  oth¬ 
ers,  began  the  work  of  destruction  by  pronouncing 
the  opinion  that  they  were  bewitched.  This  carried 
with  it,  according  to  the  received  doctrine,  a  con¬ 
viction  that  there  were  witches  about ;  for  the  Devil 
could  not  act  except  through  the  instrumentality  of 
beings  in  confederacy  with  him.  Immediately,  the 
girls  were  beset  by  everybody  to  say  who  it  was  that 
bewitched  them.  Yielding  to  this  pressure,  they  first 
cried  out  upon  such  persons  as  might  have  been  most 
naturally  suggested  to  them,  —  Sarah  Good,  apparently 
without  a  regular  home,  and  wandering  with  her  chil¬ 
dren  from  house  to  house  for  shelter  and  relief ;  Sarah 
Osburn,  a  melancholy,  broken-minded,  bed-ridden  per¬ 
son  ;  and  Tituba,  a  slave,  probably  of  mixed  African 
and  Indian  blood.  At  the  examination  of  these  per¬ 
sons,  the  girls  were  first  brought  before  the  public, 
and  the  awful  power  in  their  hands  revealed  to  them. 
The  success  with  which  they  acted  their  parts ;  the 
novelty  of  the  scene ;  the  ceremonials  of  the  occasion, 
the  magistrates  in  their  imposing  dignity  and  author¬ 
ity,  the  trappings  of  the  marshal  and  his  officers,  the 
forms  of  proceeding,  —  all  which  they  had  never  seen 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


389 


before ;  the  notice  taken  of  them ;  the  importance  at¬ 
tached  to  them ;  invested  the  affair  with  a  strange 
fascination  in  their  eves,  and  awakened  a  new  class 
of  sentiments  and  ideas  in  their  minds.  A  love 
of  distinction  and  notoriety,  and  the  several  passions 
that  are  gratified  by  the  expression  by  others  of  sym¬ 
pathy,  wonder,  and  admiration,  were  brought  into 
play.  The  fact  that  all  eyes  were  upon  them,  with 
the  special  notice  of  the  magistrates,  and  the  entire 
confidence  with  which  their  statements  were  received, 
flattered  and  beguiled  them.  A  fearful  responsibi¬ 
lity  had  been  assumed,  and  they  were  irretrievably 
committed  to  their  position.  While  they  adhered  to 
that  position,  their  power  was  irresistible,  and  they 
were  sure  of  the  public  sympathy  and  of  being 
cherished  by  the  public  favor.  If  they  faltered,  they 
would  be  the  objects  of  universal  execration  and  of  the 
severest  penalties  of  law  for  the  wrongs  already  done 
and  the  falsehoods  already  sworn  to.  There  was  no 
retracing  their  steps  ;  and  their  only  safety  was  in  con¬ 
tinuing  the  excitement  they  had  raised.  New  victims 
were  constantly  required  to  prolong  the  delusion, 
fresh  fuel  to  keep  up  the  conflagration ;  and  they 
went  on  to  cry  out  upon  others.  With  the  exception 
of  two  of  their  number,  who  appear  to  have  indulged 
spite  against  the  families  in  which  they  were  servants, 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  were  actuated  by  private 
grievances  or  by  animosities  personal  to  themselves. 
They  were  ready  and  sure  to  wreak  vengeance  upon 
any  who  expressed  doubts  about  the  truth  of  their 


390 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


testimony,  or  the  propriety  of  the  proceedings ;  but, 
beyond  this,  they  were  very  indifferent  as  to  whom 
they  should  accuse.  They  were  willing,  as  to  that 
matter,  to  follow  the  suggestions  of  others,  and  availed 
themselves  of  all  the  gossip  and  slander  and  unfriendly 
talk  in  their  families  that  reached  their  ears.  It  was 
found,  that  a  hint,  with  a  little  information  as  to  per¬ 
sons,  places,  and  circumstances,  conveyed  to  them  by 
those  who  had  resentments  and  grudges  to  gratify, 
would  he  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  There  is  reason 
to  fear,  that  there  were  some  behind  them,  giving 
direction  to  the  accusations,  and  managing  the  fright¬ 
ful  machinery,  all  the  way  through.  The  persons  who 
were  apprehended  had,  to  a  considerable  extent,  been 
obnoxious,  and  subject  to  prejudice,  in  connection 
with  quarrels  and  controversies  related  in  Part  I., 
vol.  i.  They  were  “  Topsfield  men,”  or  the  oppo¬ 
nents  of  Bayley  or  of  Parris,  or  more  or  less  con¬ 
nected  with  some  other  feuds.  As  further  proof  that 
the  girls  were  under  the  guidance  of  older  heads,  it 
is  obvious,  that  there  was,  in  the  order  of  the  pro¬ 
ceedings,  a  skilful  arrangement  of  times,  sequences, 
and  concurrents,  that  cannot  be  ascribed  to  them.  No 
novelist  or  dramatist  ever  laid  his  plot  deeper,  dis¬ 
tributed  his  characters  more  artistically,  or  conducted 
more  methodically  the  progress  of  his  story. 

In  the  mean  while,  they  were  becoming  every  day 
more  perfect  in  the  performance  of  their  parts ;  and 
their  imaginative  powers,  nervous  excitability,  and 
flexibility  and  rapidity  of  muscular  action,  were  kept 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


391 


under  constant  stimulus,  and  attaining  a  higher 
development.  The  effect  of  these  things,  so  long 
continued  in  connection  with  the  perpetual  pretence, 
becoming  more  or  less  imbued  with  the  character  of 
belief,  of  their  alliance  and  communion  with  spiritual 
beings  and  manifestations,  may  have  unsettled,  to  some 
extent,  their  minds.  Added  to  this,  a  sense  of  the 
horrid  consequences  of  their  actions,  accumulating  with 
every  pang  they  inflicted,  the  innocent  blood  they  were 
shedding,  and  the  depths  of  ruin  into  which  they 
were  sinking  themselves  and  others,  not  only  demoral¬ 
ized,  but  to  some  extent,  perhaps,  crazed  them.  It  is 
truly  a  marvel  that  their  physical  constitutions  did  not 
break  down  under  the  exhausting  excitements,  the 
contortions  of  frame,  the  force  to  which  the  bodily 
functions  wrere  subjected  in  trances  and  fits,  and  the 
strain  upon  all  the  vital  energies,  protracted  through 
many  months.  The  wonder,  however,  would  have 
been  greater,  if  the  mental  and  moral  balance  had 
not  thereby  been  disturbed. 

Perpetual  conversance  with  ideas  of  supernatural- 
ism  ;  daily  and  nightly  communications,  whether  in  the 
form  of  conscious  imposture  or  honest  delusion,  with 
the  spiritual  world,  continued  through  a  great  length 
of  time,  —  as  much  at  least  as  the  exclusive  contem¬ 
plation  of  any  one  idea  or  class  of  ideas,  —  must  be  al¬ 
lowed  to  be  unsalutary.  Whatever  keeps  the  thoughts 
wholly  apart  from  the  objects  of  real  and  natural  life, 
and  absorbs  them  in  abstractions,  cannot  be  favorable 
to  the  soundness  of  the  faculties  or  the  tone  of  the 


392 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


mind.  This  must  especially  be  the  effect,  if  the  sub¬ 
jects  thus  monopolizing  the  attention  partake  of  the 
marvellous  and  mysterious.  When  these  things  are 
considered,  and  the  external  circumstances  of  the 
occasion,  the  wild  social  excitement,  the  consternation, 
confusion,  and  horror,  that  were  all  crowded  and  heaped 
up  and  kept  pressing  upon  the  soul  without  inter¬ 
mission  for  months,  the  wonder  is,  indeed,  that  not 
only  the  accusers,  prosecutors,  and  sufferers,  but  the 
whole  people,  did  not  lose  their  senses.  Never  was 
the  great  boon  of  life,  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body, 
more  liable  to  be  snatched  away  from  all  parties.  The 
depositions  of  Ann  Putnam,  Sr.,  have  a  tinge  of  sad¬ 
ness ; —  a  melancholy,  sickly  mania  running  through 
them.  Something  of  the  kind  is,  perhaps,  more  or  less 
discernible  in  the  depositions  of  others. 

Let  us,  then,  relieve  our  common  nature  from  the 
load  of  the  imputation,  that,  in  its  normal  state,  it  is 
capable  of  such  inconceivable  wickedness,  by  giving  to 
these  wretched  persons  the  benefit  of  the  supposition 
that  they  were  more  or  less  deranged.  This  view 
renders  the  lesson  they  present  more  impressive  and 
alarming.  Sin  in  all  cases,  when  considered  by  a 
mind  that  surveys  the  whole  field,  is  itself  insanity. 
In  the  case  of  these  accusers,  it  was  so  great  as  to 
prove,  by  its  very  monstrousness,  that  it  had  actually 
subverted  their  nature  and  overthrown  their  reason. 
They  followed  their  victims  to  the  gallows,  and  jeered, 
scoffed,  insulted  them  in  their  dying  hours.  Sarah 
Churchill,  according  to  the  ^testimony  of  Sarah  Inger- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


393 


soli,  on  one  occasion  came  to  herself,  and  manifested 
the  symptoms  of  a  restored  moral  consciousness :  but 
it  was  a  temporary  gleam,  a  lucid  interval ;  and  she 
passed  back  into  darkness,  continuing,  as  before,  to 
revel  in  falsehood,  and  scatter  destruction  around  her. 
With  this  single  exception,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
appearance  of  compunction  or  reflection  among  them. 
On  the  contrary,  they  seem  to  have  been  in  a  frivolous, 
sportive,  gay  frame  of  thought  and  spirits.  There  is, 
perhaps,  in  this  view  of  their  conduct  and  demeanor, 
something  to  justify  the  belief  that  they  were  really 
demented.  The  fact  that  a  large  amount  of  skilful 
art  and  adroit  cunning  was  displayed  by  them  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  supposition  that  they  had  become 
partially  insane  ;  for  such  cunning  and  art  are  often 
associated  with  insanity. 

The  quick  wit  and  ready  expedients  of  the  “  afflicted 
children  ”  are  very  remarkable.  They  were  prompt 
with  answers,  if  any  attempted  to  cross-examine  them, 
extricated  themselves  most  ingeniously  if  ever  brought 
into  embarrassment,  and  eluded  all  efforts  to  entrap  or 
expose  them.  Among  the  papers  is  a  deposition,  the 
use  of  which  at  the  trials  is  not  apparent.  It  does  not 
purport  to  bear  upon  any  particular  case.  Joseph 
Hutchinson  was  a  firm-minded  man,  of  strong  common 
sense.  He  could  not  easily  be  deceived ;  and,  al¬ 
though  he  took  part  in  the  proceedings  at  the  begin¬ 
ning,  soon  became  opposed  to  them.  It  looks  as  if,  by 
close  questions  put  to  the  child,  Abigail  Williams,  on 
some  occasion  of  his  casually  meeting  her,  he  had  tried 


394 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


to  expose  the  falseness  of  her  accusations,  and  that  he 
was  made  to  put  the  conversation  into  the  shape  of  a 
deposition.  It  is  as  follows :  — 

“  The  Deposition  of  Joseph  Hutchinson,  aged  fifty- 
nine  years,  do  testify  as  followetli :  “  Abigail  Williams,  I 
have  heard  you  speak  often  of  a  book  that  has  been  offered 
to  you.  She  said  that  there  were  two  books  :  one  was  a 
short,  thick  book  ;  and  the  other  was  a  long  book.  I  asked 
her  what  color  the  book  was  of.  She  said  the  books  were 
as  red  as  blood.  I  asked  her  if  she  had  seen  the  books 
opened.  She  said  she  had  seen  it  many  times.  I  asked 
her  if  she  did  see  any  writing  in  the  book.  She  said  there 
were  many  lines  written  ;  and,  at  the  end  of  every  line,  there 
was  a  seal.  I  asked  her,  who  brought  the  book  to  her. 
She  told  me  that  it  was  the  black  man.  I  asked  her  who 
the  black  man  was.  She  told  me  it  was  the  Devil.  I  asked 
her  if  she  was  not  afraid  to  see  the  Devil.  She  said,  at  the 
first  she  was,  and  did  go  from  him  ;  but  now  she  was  not 
afraid,  but  could  talk  with  him  as  well  as  she  could  with  me.” 

There  is  an  air  of  ease  and  confidence  in  the 
answers  of  Abigail,  which  illustrates  the  promptness 
of  invention  and  assurance  of  their  grounds  which  the 
girls  manifested  on  all  occasions.  They  were  never  at 
a  loss,  and  challenged  scrutiny.  Hutchinson  gained 
no  advantage,  and  no  one  else  ever  did,  in  an  en¬ 
counter  with  them. 

Whatever  opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  moral  or 
mental  condition  of  the  “  afflicted  children,”  as  to 
their  sanity  and  responsibility,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  were  great  actors.  In  mere  jugglery  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


395 


sleight  of  hand,  they  bear  no  mean  comparison  with 
the  workers  of  wonders,  in  that  line,  of  our  own  day. 
Long  practice  had  given  them  complete  control  over 
their  countenances,  intonations  of  voice,  and  the  entire 
muscular  and  nervous  organization  of  their  bodies ;  so 
that  they  could  at  will,  and  on  the  instant,  go  into  fits 
and  convulsions,  swoon  and  fall  to  the  floor,  put  their 
frames  into  strange  contortions,  bring  the  blood  to  the 
face,  and  send  it  back  again.  They  could  be  deadly 
pale  at  one  moment,  at  the  next  flushed ;  their  hands 
would  be  clenched  and  held  together  as  with  a  vice  ; 
their  limbs  stiff  and  rigid  or  wholly  relaxed ;  their 
teeth  would  be  set ;  they  would  go  through  the  par¬ 
oxysms  of  choking  and  strangulation,  and  gasp  for 
breath,  bringing  froth  and  blood  from  the  mouth  ;  they 
would  utter  all  sorts  of  screams  in  unearthly  tones  ; 
their  eyes  remain  fixed,  sometimes  bereft  of  all  light 
and  expression,  cold  and  stony,  and  sometimes  kindled 
into  flames  of  passion ;  they  would  pass  into  the  state 
of  somnambulism,  without  aim  or  conscious  direction 
in  their  movements,  looking  at  some  point,  where  was 
no  apparent  object  of  vision,  with  a  wild,  unmeaning 
glare.  There  are  some  indications  that  they  had 
acquired  the  art  of  ventriloquism ;  or  they  so  wrought 
upon  the  imaginations  of  the  beholders,  that  the  sounds 
of  the  motions  and  voices  of  invisible  beings  were  be¬ 
lieved  to  be  heard.  They  would  start,  tremble,  and 
be  pallid  before  apparitions,  seen,  of  course,  only  by 
themselves ;  but  their  acting  was  so  perfect  that  all 
present  thought  they  saw  them  too.  They  would 


396 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


address  and  hold  colloquy  with  spectres  and  ghosts  ; 
and  the  responses  of  the  unseen  beings  would  be  audi¬ 
ble  to  the  fancy  of  the  bewildered  crowd.  They  would 
follow  with  their  eyes  the  airy  visions,  so  that  others 
imagined  they  also  beheld  them.  This  was  surely  a 
high  dramatic  achievement.  Their  representations 
of  pain,  and  every  form  and  all  the  signs  and  marks  of 
bodily  suffering,  —  as  in  the  case  of  Ann  Putnam’s 
arm,  and  the  indentations  of  teeth  on  the  flesh  in  many 
instances,  —  utterly  deceived  everybody  ;  and  there 
were  men  present  who  could  not  easily  have  been  im¬ 
posed  upon.  The  Attorney-general  was  a  barrister  fresh 
from  Inns  of  Court  in  London.  Deodat  Lawson  had 
seen  something  of  the  world;  so  had  Joseph  Herrick. 
Joseph  Hutchinson  was  a  sharp,  stern,  and  sceptical 
observer.  John  Putnam  was  a  man  of  great  practical 
force  and  discrimination  ;  so  was  his  brother  Nathaniel, 
and  others  of  the  village.  Besides,  there  were  many 
from  Boston  and  elsewhere  competent  to  detect  a  trick ; 
but  none  could  discover  any  imposture  in  the  girls. 
Sarah  Nurse  swore  that  she  saw  Goody  Bibber  cheat  in 
the  matter  of  the  pins  ;  but  Bibber  did  not  belong  to  the 
village,  and  was  a  bungling  interloper.  The  accusing 
girls  showed  extraordinary  skill,  ingenuity,  and  fancy 
in  inventing  the  stories  to  which  they  testified,  and 
seemed  to  have  been  familiar  with  the  imagery  which 
belonged  to  the  literature  of  demonology.  This  has 
led  some  to  suppose  that  they  must  have  had  access  to 
books  treating  the  subject.  Our  fathers  abhorred,  with 
a  perfect  hatred,  all  theatrical  exhibitions.  It  would 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


397 


have  filled  them  with  horror  to  propose  going  to  a  play. 
But  unwittingly,  week  after  week,  month  in  and  month 
out,  ministers,  deacons,  brethren,  and  sisters  of  the 
church  rushed  to  Nathaniel  Ingersoll’s,  to  the  village 
and  town  meeting-houses,  and  to  Thomas  Beadle’s 
Globe  Tavern,  and  gazed  with  wonder,  awe,  and 
admiration  upon  acting  such  as  has  seldom  been  sur¬ 
passed  on  the  boards  of  any  theatre,  high  or  low, 
ancient  or  modern. 

There  is  another  aspect  that  perplexes  and  con¬ 
founds  the  judgments  of  all  who  read  the  story.  It 
is  this :  As  it  is  at  present  the  universal  opinion  that 
the  whole  of  this  witchcraft  transaction  was  a  delu¬ 
sion,  having  no  foundation  whatever  but  in  the  imagi¬ 
nations  and  passions  ;  and  as  it  is  now  certain,  that  all 
the  accused,  both  the  condemned  and  the  pardoned, 
were  entirely  innocent,  —  how  can  it  be  explained  that 
so  many  were  led  to  confess  themselves  guilty  ?  The 
answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  found  in  those  gen¬ 
eral  principles  which  have  led  the  wisest  legislators 
and  jurists  to  the  conclusion,  that,  although  on  their 
face  and  at  first  thought,  they  appear  to  be  the  very 
best  kind  of  evidence,  yet,  maturely  considered,  con¬ 
fessions  made  under  the  hope  of  a  benefit,  and  some¬ 
time  even  without  the  impulses  of  such  a  hope,  are 
to  be  received  with  great  caution  and  wariness.  Here 
were  fifty-five  persons,  who  declared  themselves  guilty 
of  a  capital,  nay,  a  diabolical  crime,  of  which  we  know 
they  were  innocent.  It  is  probable  that  the  motive 
of  self-preservation  influenced  most  of  them.  An 


398 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


awful  death  was  in  immediate  prospect.  There  was 
no  escape  from  the  wiles  of  the  accusers.  The  delu¬ 
sion  had  obtained  full  possession  of  the  people,  the 
jury,  and  the  Court.  By  acknowledging  a  compact 
with  Satan,  they  could  in  a  moment  secure  their  lives 
and  liberty.  It  was  a  position  which  only  the  firmest 
minds  could  safely  occupy.  The  principles  and  the 
prowess  of  ordinary  characters  could  not  withstand 
the  temptation  and  the  pressure.  They  yielded,  and 
were  saved  from  an  impending  and  terrible  death. 

As  these  confessions  had  a  decisive  effect  in  pre¬ 
cipitating  the  public  mind  into  the  depths  of  its  delu¬ 
sion,  gave  a  fatal  power  to  the  accusers,  and  carried 
the  proceedings  to  the  horrible  extremities  which  have 
concentrated  upon  them  the  attention  of  the  world, 
they  assume  an  importance  in  the  history  of  the  affair 
that  demands  a  full  and  thorough  exposition.  At  the 
examination  of  Ann  Foster,  at  Salem  Village,  on  the 
15th  of  July,  1692,  the  following  confession  was,  “  after 
a  while,”  extorted  from  her.  It  was  undoubtedly  the 
result  of  the  overwhelming  effect  of  the  horrors  of 
her  condition  upon  a  distressed  and  half-crazed  mind. 
It  shows  the  staple  materials  of  which  confessions 
were  made,  and  the  forms  of  absurd  superstition  with 
which  the  imaginations  of  people  were  then  filled  :  — 

The  Devil  appeared  to  her  in  the  shape  of  a  bird  at 
several  times,  —  such  a  bird  as  she  never  saw  the  like  before  ; 
and  she  had  had  this  gift  (viz.,  of  striking  the  afflicted  down 
with  her  eye)  ever  since.  Being  asked  why  she  thought 
that  bird  was  the  Devil,  she  answered,  because  he  came 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


399 


white  and  vanished  away  black  ;  and  that  the  Devil  told 
her  she  should  have  this  gift,  and  that  she  must  believe  him, 
and  told  her  she  should  have  prosperity :  and  she  said  that 
he  had  appeared  to  her  three  times,  and  always  as  a  bird, 
and  the  last  time  about  half  a  year  since,  and  sat  upon 
a  table,  —  had  two  legs  and  great  eyes,  and  that  it  was  the 
second  time  of  his  appearance  that  he  promised  her  pros¬ 
perity.  She  further  stated,  that  it  was  Goody  Carrier 
that  made  her  a  witch.  She  told  her,  that,  if  she  would  not 
be  a  witch,  the  Devil  would  tear  her  to  pieces,  and  carry 
her  away,  —  at  which  time  she  promised  to  serve  the  Devil ; 
that  she  was  at  the  meeting  of  the  witches  at  Salem  Village  ; 
that  Goody  Carrier  came,  and  told  her  of  the  meeting,  and 
would  have  her  go  :  so  they  got  upon  sticks,  and  went  said 
journey,  and,  being  there,  did  see  Mr.  Burroughs,  the  minis¬ 
ter,  who  spake  to  them  all ;  that  there  were  then  twenty- 
five  persons  met  together ;  that  she  tied  a  knot  in  a  rag, 
and  threw  it  into  the  fire  to  hurt  Timothy  Swan,  and  that 
she  did  hurt  the  rest  that  complained  of  her  by  squeezing 
puppets  like  them,  and  so  almost  choked  them ;  that  she 
and  Martha  Carrier  did  both  ride  on  a  stick  or  pole  when 
they  went  to  the  witch-meeting  at  Salem  Village,  and  that 
the  stick  broke  as  they  were  carried  in  the  air  above  the 
tops  of  the  trees,  and  they  fell :  but  she  did  hang  fast  about 
the  neck  of  Goody  Carrier,  and  they  were  presently  at  the 
village ;  that  she  had  heard  some  of  the  witches  say  that 
there  vrere  three  hundred  and  five  in  the  whole  country, 
and  that  they  would  ruin  that  place,  the  village  ;  that  there 
were  also  present  at  that  meeting  two  men  besides  Mr. 
Burroughs,  the  minister,  and  one  of  them  had  gray  hair ; 
and  that  the  discourse  among  the  witches  at  the  meeting 
in  Salem  Village  was,  that  they  would  afilict  there  to  set 
up  the  Devil’s  kingdom. 


400 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  confession  of  which  the  foregoing  is  the  sub¬ 
stance  appears  to  have  been  drawn  out  at  four  several 
examinations  on  different  days,  during  which  she  was 
induced  by  the  influences  around  her  to  make  her 
testimony  more  and  more  extravagant  at  each  suc¬ 
cessive  examination.  Her  daughter,  Mary  Lacy,  called 
Goody  Lacy,  was  brought  up  on  the  charge  of  witch¬ 
craft  at  the  same  time  ;  and,  upon  finding  the  mother 
confessing,  she  saw  that  her  only  safety  was  in  con¬ 
fessing  also.  When  confronted,  the  daughter  cried 
out  to  the  mother,  “We  have  forsaken  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  Devil  hath  got  hold  of  us.  IIow  shall  we 
get  clear  of  this  Evil  One  ?  ”  She  proceeded  to  say 
that  she  had  accompanied  her  mother  and  Goody 
Carrier,  all  three  riding  together  on  the  pole,  to 
Salem  Village.  She  then  made  the  following  state¬ 
ment  :  “  About  three  or  four  years  ago,  she  saw  Mistress 
Bradbury,  Goody  Howe,  and  Goody  Nurse  baptized  by 
the  old  Serpent  at  Newbury  Falls ;  that  he  dipped 
their  heads  in  the  water,  and  then  said  they  were  his, 
and  he  had  power  over  them  ;  that  there  were  six  bap¬ 
tized  at  that  time,  who  were  some  of  the  chief  or  higher 
powers,  and  that  there  might  he  near  about  a  hun¬ 
dred  in  company  at  that  time.”  It  being  asked  her 
“  after  what  manner  she  went  to  Newbury  Falls,”  she 
answered,  “  the  Devil  carried  her  in  his  arms.” 
She  said,  that,  “  if  she  did  take  a  rag,  and  roll  it  up 
together,  and  imagine  it  to  represent  such  and  such 
a  person,  then  that,  whatsoever  she  did  to  that  rag  so 
rolled  up,  the  person  represented  thereby  would  be 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


401 


in  like  manner  afflicted.”  Her  daughter,  also  named 
Mary  Lacy,  followed  the  example  of  her  mother  and 
grandmother,  and  made  confession. 

An  examination  of  the  confessions  shows,  that,  when 
accused  persons  made  up  their  minds  to  confess,  they 
saw,  that,  to  make  their  safety  secure,  it  was  necessary 
to  go  the  whole  length  of  the  popular  superstition 
and  fanaticism.  In  many  instances,  they  appear  to 
have  fabricated  their  stories  with  much  ingenuity  and 
tact,  making  them  tally  with  the  statements  of  the 
accusers,  adding  points  and  items  that  gave  an  air 
of  truthfulness,  and  falling  in  with  current  notions 
and  fancies.  They  were  undoubtedly  under  training 
by  the  girls,  and  were  provided  with  the  materials 
of  their  testimony.  Their  depositions  are  valuable, 
inasmuch  as  they  enable  us  to  collect  about  the  whole 
of  the  notions  then  prevalent  on  the  subject.  If,  in 
delivering  their  evidences,  any  prompting  was  needed, 
the  accusers  were  at  their  elbows,  and  helped  them 
along  in  their  stories.  If,  in  any  particular,  they  were 
in  danger  of  contradicting  themselves  or  others,  they 
were  checked  or  diverted.  In  one  case,  a  confessing 
witch  was  damaging  her  own  testimony,  whereupon 
one  of  the  afflicted  cried  out  that  she  saw  the  shapes 
or  apparitions  of  other  witches  interfering  with  her 
utterance.  The  witness  took  the  hint,  pretended  to 
have  lost  the  power  of  expressing  herself,  and  was 
removed  from  the  stand. 

In  some  cases,  the  confessing  witches  showed  great 
adroitness,  and  knowledge  of  human  nature.  When 

26 


VOL.  II. 


402 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


a  leading  minister  was  visiting  them  in  the  prison, 
one  of  them  cried  out  as  he  passed  her  cell,  calling 
him  by  name,  “  Oh !  I  remember  a  text  you  preached 
on  in  England,  twenty  years  since,  from  these  words  : 
£  Your  sin  will  find  you  out ;  ’  for  I  find  it  to  be  true 
in  my  own  case.”  This  skilful  compliment,  showing 
the  power  of  his  preaching  making  an  impression 
which  time  could  not  efface,  was  no  doubt  flattering 
to  the  good  man,  and  secured  for  her  his  favorable 
influence. 

Justice  requires  that  their  own  explanation  of  the 
influences  which  led  them  to  confess  should  not  be 
withheld. 

The  following  declaration  of  six  women  belonging 
to  Andover  is  accompanied  by  a  paper  signed  by  more 
than  fifty  of  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  that 
town,  testifying  to  their  good  character,  in  which  it 
is  said  that  “  by  their  sober,  godly,  and  exemplary  con¬ 
versation,  they  have  obtained  a  good  report  in  the 
place,  where  they  have  been  well  esteemed  and  ap¬ 
proved  in  the  church  of  which  they  are  members:”  — 

“We  whose  names  are  underwritten,  inhabitants  of  An¬ 
dover,  when  as  that  horrible  and  tremendous  judgment, 
beginning  at  Salem  Village,  in  the  year  1692,  by  some  called 
witchcraft,  first  breaking  forth  at  Mr.  Parris’s  house,  sev¬ 
eral  young  persons,  being  seemingly  afflicted,  did  accuse 
several  persons  for  afflicting  them  ;  and  many  there  believing 
it  so  to  be,  we  being  informed,  that,  if  a  person  was  sick, 
the  afflicted  person  could  tell  what  or  who  was  the  cause 
of  that  sickness  :  John  Ballard  of  Andover,  his  wife  being 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLACxE. 


403 


sick  at  the  same  time,  he,  either  from  himself,  or  by  the  ad¬ 
vice  of  others,  fetched  two  of  the  persons  called  the  afllicted 
persons  from  Salem  Village  to  Andover,  which  was  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  that  dreadful  calamity  that  befell  us  in  Andover, 
believing  the  said  accusations  to  be  true,  sent  for  the  said 
persons  to  come  together  to  the  meeting-house  in  Andover, 
the  afflicted  persons  being  there.  After  Mr.  Barnard  had 
been  at  prayer,  Ave  were  blindfolded,  and  our  hands  were 
laid  upon  the  afflicted  persons,  they  being  in  their  fits,  and 
falling  into  their  fits  at  our  coming  into  their  presence,  as 
they  said  :  and  some  led  us,  and  laid  our  hands  upon  them  ; 
and  then  they  said  they  were  well,  and  that  we  were  guilty 
of  afflicting  them.  Whereupon  we  were  all  seized  as  prison¬ 
ers,  by  a  warrant  from  the  justice  of  the  peace,  and  forthwith 
carried  to  Salem  ;  and  by  reason  of  that  sudden  surprisal, 
we  knowing  ourselves  altogether  innocent  of  that  crime,  we 
were  all  exceedingly  astonished  and  amazed,  and  conster¬ 
nated  and  affrighted,  even  out  of  our  reason  ;  and  our 
nearest  and  dearest  relations,  seeing  us  in  that  dreadful 
condition,  and  knowing  our  great  danger,  apprehended  there 
was  no  other  way  to  save  our  lives,  as  the  case  was  then 
circumstanced,  but  by  our  confessing  ourselves  to  be  such 
and  such  persons  as  the  afflicted  represented  us  to  be,  they, 
out  of  tenderness  and  pity,  persuaded  us  to  confess  what  we 
did  confess.  And,  indeed,  that  confession  that  it  is  said  we 
made  was  no  other  than  what  was  suggested  to  us  by  some 
gentlemen,  they  telling  us  that  we  were  witches,  and  they 
knew  it,  and  we  knew  it,  which  made  us  think  that  it  was 
so  ;  and,  our  understandings,  our  reason,  our  faculties  almost 
gone,  we  were  not  capable  of  judging  of  our  condition  ;  as 
also  the  hard  measures  they  used  with  us  rendered  us  in¬ 
capable  of  making  our  defence,  but  said  any  thing,  and 


404 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


every  thing  which  they  desired,  and  most  of  what  we  said 
was  but  in  effect  a  consenting  to  what  they  said.  Some 
time  after,  when  we  were  better  composed,  they  telling  us 
what  we  had  confessed,  we  did  profess  that  we  were  innocent 
and  ignorant  of  such  things ;  and  we  hearing  that  Samuel 
Ward  well  had  renounced  his  confession,  and  was  quickly 
after  condemned  and  executed,  some  of  us  were  told  we 
were  going  after  Wardwell. 

“Mary  Osgood. 

Mary  Tyler. 

Deliverance  Dane. 

Abigail  Barker. 

Sarah  Wilson. 

Hannah  Tyler." 

The  means  employed,  and  the  influences  brought  to 
bear  upon  persons  accused,  were,  in  many  cases,  such 
as  wholly  to  overpower  them,  and  to  relieve  their  con¬ 
fessions,  to  a  great  extent,  of  a  criminal  character. 
They  were  scarcely  responsible  moral  agents.  In  the 
month  of  October,  Increase  Mather  came  to  Salem,  to 
confer  with  the  confessing  witches  in  prison.  The 
result  of  his  examinations  is  preserved  in  a  document 
of  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  author.  The 
following  extracts  afford  some  explanation  of  the  whole 
subject :  — 

“  Goodwife  Tyler  did  say,  that,  when  she  was  first  ap¬ 
prehended,  she  had  no  fears  upon  her,  and  did  think  that 
nothing  could  have  made  her  confess  against  herself.  But 
since,  she  had  found,  to  her  great  grief,  that  she  had  wronged 
the  truth,  and  falsely  accused  herself.  She  said  that,  when 
she  was  brought  to  Salem,  her  brother  Bridges  rode  with 
her ;  and  that,  all  along  the  way  from  Andover  to  Salem, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


405 


her  brother  kept  telling  her  that  she  must  needs  be  a  witch, 
since  the  afflicted  accused  her,  and  at  her  touch  were  raised 
out  of  their  fits,  and  urging  her  to  confess  herself  a  witch. 
She  as  constantly  told  him  that  she  was  no  witch,  that  she 
knew  nothing  of  witchcraft,  and  begged  him  not  to  urge  her 
to  confess.  However,  when  she  came  to  Salem,  she  was 
carried  to  a  room,  where  her  brother  on  one  side,  and  Mr. 
John  Emerson  on  the  other  side,  did  tell  her  that  she 
was  certainly  a  witch,  and  that  she  saw  the  Devil  before  her 
eyes  at  that  time  (and,  accordingly,  the  said  Emerson  would 
attempt  with  his  hand  to  beat  him  away  from  her  eyes)  ; 
and  they  so  urged  her  to  confess,  that  she  wished  herself  in 
any  dungeon,  rather  than  he  so  treated.  Mr.  Emerson  told 
her,  once  and  again,  4  Well,  I  see  you  will  not  confess  ! 
Well,  I  will  now  leave  you ;  and  then  you  are  undone,  body 
and  soul,  for  ever.’  Her  brother  urged  her  to  confess,  and 
told  her  that,  in  so  doing,  she  could  not  lie :  to  which  she 
answered,  4  Good  brother,  do  not  say  so ;  for  I  shall  lie  if 
I  confess,  and  then  who  shall  answer  unto  God  for  my  lie  ?  ’ 
He  still  asserted  it,  and  said  that  God  would  not  suffer  so 
many  good  men  to  be  in  such  an  error  about  it,  and  that  she 
would  be  hanged  if  she  did  not  confess  ;  and  continued  so 
long  and  so  violently  to  urge  and  press  her  to  confess,  that 
she  thought,  verily,  that  her  life  would  have  gone  from  her, 
and  became  so  tei'rified  in  her  mind  that  she  owned,  at 
length,  almost  any  thing  that  they  propounded  to  her;  that 
she  had  wronged  her  conscience  in  so  doing ;  she  was  guilty 
of  a  great  sin  in  belying  of  herself,  and  desired  to  mourn  for 
it  so  long  as  she  lived.  This  she  said,  and  a  great  deal 
more  of  the  like  nature  ;  and  all  with  such  affection,  sorrow, 
relenting,  grief,  and  mourning,  as  that  it  exceeds  any  peu*to 
describe  and  express  the  same.” 


406 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


“  Goodwife  Wilson  said  that  she  was  in  the  dark  as  to 
some  things  in  her  confession.  Yet  she  asserted  that, 
knowingly,  she  never  had  familiarity  with  the  Devil ; 
that,  knowingly,  she  never  consented  to  the  afflicting  of 
any  person,  &c.  However,  she  said  that  truly  she  was  in 
the  dark  as  to  the  matter  of  her  being  a  witch.  And  being 
asked  how  she  was  in  the  dark,  she  replied,  that  the  afflicted 
persons  crying  out  of  her  as  afflicting  them  made  her  fear¬ 
ful  of  herself ;  and  that  was  all  that  made  her  say  that  she 
was  in  the  dark.” 

“  Goodwife  Bridges  said  that  she  had  confessed  against 
herself  things  which  were  all  utterly  false ;  and  that  she 
was  brought  to  her  confession  by  being  told  that  she  cer¬ 
tainly  was  a  witch,  and  so  made  to  believe  it,  —  though  she 
had  no  other  grounds  so  to  believe.” 

Some  explanation  of  the  details  which  those,  pre¬ 
vailed  upon  to  confess,  put  into  their  testimony,  and 
which  seemed,  at  the  time,  to  establish  and  demon¬ 
strate  the  truth  of  their  statements,  is  afforded  by 
what  Mary  Osgood  is  reported,  by  Increase  Mather,  to 
have  said  to  him  on  this  occasion :  — 

“  Being  asked  why  she  prefixed  a  time,  and  spake  of  her 
being  baptized,  &c.,  about  twelve  years  since,  she  replied 
and  said,  that,  when  she  had  owned  the  thing,  they  asked 
the  time,  to  which  she  answered  that  she  knew  not  the 
time.  But,  being  told  that  she  did  know  the  time,  and  must 
tell  the  time,  and  the  like,  she  considered  that  about  twelve 
years  before  (when  she  had  her  last  child)  she  had  a  fit  of 
sickness,  and  was  melancholy  ;  and  so  thought  that  that 
time  might  be  as  proper  a  time  to  mention  as  any,  and 
accordingly  did  prefix  the  said  time.  Being  asked  about 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


407 


the  cat,  in  the  shape  of  which  she  had  confessed  that  the 
Devil  had  appeared  to  her,  &c.,  she  replied,  that,  being  told 
that  the  Devil  had  appeared  to  her,  and  must  needs  appear 
to  her,  &c.  (she  being  a  witch),  she  at  length  did  own  that 
the  Devil  had  appeai’ed  to  her ;  and,  being  pressed  to  say  in 
what  creature’s  shape  he  appeared,  she  at  length  did  say 
that  it  was  in  the  shape  of  a  cat.  Remembering  that,  some 
time  before  her  being  apprehended,  as  she  went  out  at  her 
door,  she  saw  a  cat,  &c. ;  not  as  though  she  any  whit  sus¬ 
pected  the  said  cat  to  be  the  Devil,  in  the  day  of  it,  but 
because  some  creature  she  must  mention,  and  this  came 
into  her  mind  at  that  time,” 

This  poor  woman,  as  well  as  several  others,  besides 
Goodwife  Tyler,  who  denied  and  renounced  their  con¬ 
fessions,  manifested,  as  Dr.  Mather  affirms,  the  utmost 
horror  and  anguish  at  the  thought  that  they  could 
have  been  so  wicked  as  to  have  belied  themselves,  and 
brought  injury  upon  others  by  so  doing.  They  “  be¬ 
wailed  and  lamented  their  accusing  of  others,  about 
whom  they  never  knew  any  evil”  in  their  lives.  They 
proved  the  sincerity  of  their  repentance  by  abandoning 
and  denouncing  their  confessions,  and  thus  offering 
their  lives  as  a  sacrifice  to  atone  for  their  falsehood. 
They  were  then  awaiting  their  trial ;  and  there  seemed 
no  escape  from  the  awful  fate  which  had  befallen  all 
persons  brought  to  trial  before,  and  who  had  not 
confessed  or  had  withdrawn  their  confession.  Fortu¬ 
nately  for  them,  the  Court  did  not  meet  again  in  1G92  ; 
and  they  were  acquitted  at  the  regular  session,  in  the 
January  following. 


408 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


In  one  of  Calef’s  tracts,  lie  sums  up  Ins  views,  on 
the  subject  of  the  confessions,  as  follows :  — 

“  Besides  the  powerful  argument  of  life  (and  freedom 
from  hardships,  not  only  promised,  but  also  performed  to  all 
that  owned  their  guilt),  there  are  numerous  instances  of  the 
tedious  examinations  before  private  persons,  many  hours 
together  ;  they  all  that  time  urging  them  to  confess  (and 
taking  turns  to  persuade  them),  till  the  accused  were  wea¬ 
ried  out  by  being  forced  to  stand  so  long,  or  for  want  of 
sleep,  &c.,  and  so  brought  to  give  assent  to  what  they  said  ; 
they  asking  them,  ‘Were  you  at  such  a  witch  meeting  ?’  or, 
‘  Have  you  signed  the  Devil’s  book?’  &c.  Upon  their  reply¬ 
ing  ‘  Yes,’  the  whole  was  drawn  into  form,  as  their  con¬ 
fession.” 

This  accounts  for  the  similarity  of  construction  and 
substance  of  the  confessions  generally. 

Calef  remarks : — 

“  But  that  which  did  mightily  further  such  confessions 
was  their  nearest  relations  urging  them  to  it.  These,  see¬ 
ing  no  other  way  of  escape  for  them,  thought  it  the  best 
advice  that  could  be  given  ;  hence  it  was,  that  the  husbands 
of  some,  by  counsel,  often  urging,  and  utmost  earnestness, 
and  children  upon  their  knees  intreating,  have  at  length 
prevailed  with  them  to  say  they  were  guilty.” 

One  of  the  most  painful  tilings  in  the  whole  affair 
was,  that  the  absolute  conviction  of  the  guilt  of  the 
persons  accused,  pervading  the  community,  took  full 
effect  upon  the  minds  of  many  relatives  and  friends. 
They  did  not  consider  it  as  a  matter  of  the  least  pos¬ 
sible  doubt.  They  therefore  looked  upon  it  as  wicked 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


409 


obstinacy  not  to  confess,  and,  in  this  sense,  an  addi¬ 
tional  and  most  conclusive  evidence  of  a  mind  alien¬ 
ated  from  truth  and  wholly  given  over  to  Satan.  This 
turned  natural  love  and  previous  friendships  into  re¬ 
sentment,  indignation,  and  abhorrence,  which  left  the 
unhappy  prisoners  in  a  condition  where  only  the  most 
wonderful  clearness  of  conviction  and  strength  of  char¬ 
acter  could  hold  them  up.  And,  in  many  cases  where 
they  yielded,  it  was  not  from  unworthy  fear,  or  for 
self-preservation,  hut  because  their  judgment  was  over¬ 
thrown,  and  their  minds  in  complete  subjection  and 
prostration. 

There  can,  indeed,  hardly  he  a  doubt,  that,  in  some 
instances,  the  confessing  persons  really  believed  them¬ 
selves  guilty.  To  explain  this,  we  must  look  into  the 
secret  chambers  of  the  human  soul ;  we  must  read 
the  history  of  the  imagination,  and  consider  its  power 
over  the  understanding.  We  must  transport  ourselves 
to  the  dungeon,  and  think  of  its  dark  and  awful  walls, 
its  dreary  hours,  its  tedious  loneliness,  its  heavy  and 
benumbing  fetters  and  chains,  its  scanty  fare,  and  all 
its  dismal  and  painful  circumstances.  We  must  re¬ 
flect  upon  their  influence  over  a  terrified  and  agitated, 
an  injured  and  broken  spirit.  We  must  think  of  the 
situation  of  the  poor  prisoner,  cut  off  from  hope ; 
hearing  from  all  quarters,  and  at  all  times,  morning, 
noon,  and  night,  that  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  guilt ; 
surrounded  and  overwhelmed  by  accusations  and  evi¬ 
dence,  gradually  but  insensibly  mingling  and  con¬ 
founding  the  visions  and  vagaries  of  his  troubled 


410 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


dreams  with  the  reveries  of  his  waking  hours,  until 
his  reason  becomes  obscured,  his  recollections  are 
thrown  into  derangement,  his  mind  loses  the  poAver 
of  distinguishing  between  what  is  perpetually  told  him 
by  others  and  what  belongs  to  the  suggestions  of  his 
oaahi  memory :  his  imagination  at  last  gains  complete 
ascendency  over  his  other  faculties,  and  he  believes 
and  declares  himself  guilty  of  crimes  of  which  he  is 
as  innocent  as  the  child  unhorn.  The  history  of  the 
transaction  we  have  been  considering,  affords  a  clear 
illustration  of  the  truth  and  reasonableness  of  this 
explanation. 

The  facility  with  which  persons  can  be  persuaded, 
by  perpetually  assailing  them  with  accusations  of  the 
truth  of  a  charge,  in  reality  not  true,  even  when 
it  is  made  against  themselves,  has  been  frequently 
noticed.  Addison,  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  his 
“  Spectator,”  speaks  of  it  in  connection  Avitli  our  pres¬ 
ent  subject :  “  When  an  old  woman,”  says  he,  “  begins 
to  dote,  and  grow  chargeable  to  a  parish,  she  is  gen¬ 
erally  turned  into  a  witch,  and  fills  the  whole  coun¬ 
try  with  extravagant  fancies,  imaginary  distempers, 
and  terrifying  dreams.  In  the  mean  time,  the  poor 
wretch  that  is  the  innocent  occasion  of  so  many  evils 
begins  to  be  frighted  at  herself,  and  sometimes  con¬ 
fesses  secret  commerces  and  familiarities  that  her 
imagination  forms  in  a  delirious  old  age.  This  fre¬ 
quently  cuts  off  charity  from  the  greatest  objects  of 
compassion,  and  inspires  people  with  a  malevolence 
towards  those  poor,  decrepit  parts  of  our  species 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


411 


in  whom  human  nature  is  defaced  by  infirmity  and 
dotage.” 

This  passage  is  important,  in  addition  to  the  bearing 
it  has  upon  the  point  we  have  been  considering,  as 
describing  the  state  of  opinion  and  feeling  in  England 
twenty  years  after  the  folly  had  been  exploded  here. 
In  another  number  of  the  same  series  of  essays,  he 
bears  evidence,  that  the  superstitions  which  here  came 
to  a  head  in  1692  had  long  been  prevalent  in  the 
mother-country  :  “  Our  forefathers  looked  upon  nature 
with  more  reverence  and  horror  before  the  world  was 
enlightened  by  learning  and  philosophy,  and  loved  to 
astonish  themselves  with  the  apprehensions  of  witch¬ 
craft,  prodigies,  charms,  and  enchantments.  There 
was  not  a  village  in  England  that  had  not  a  ghost  in 
it ;  the  churchyards  were  all  haunted ;  every  large 
common  had  a  circle  of  fairies  belonging  to  it ;  and 
there  was  scarce  a  shepherd  to  be  met  with  who  had 
not  seen  a  spirit.”  These  fancies  still  linger  in  the 
minds  of  some  in  the  Old  World  and  in  the  New. 

After  allowing  for  the  utmost  extent  of  prevalent 
superstitions,  the  exaggerations  incident  to  a  state 
of  general  excitement,  and  the  fertile  inventive  facul¬ 
ties  of  the  accusing  girls,  there  is  much  in  the  evi¬ 
dence  that  cannot  easily  be  accounted  for.  In  other 
cases  than  that  of  Westgate,  we  find  the  symptoms 
of  that  bewildered  condition  of  the  senses  and  imagi¬ 
nation  not  at  all  surprising  or  unusual  in  the  expe¬ 
rience  of  men  staggering  home  in  midnight  hours 
from  tavern  haunts.  Disturbed  dreams  were,  it  is 


412 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


not  improbable,  a  fruitful  source  of  delusion.  A  large 
part  of  the  evidence  is  susceptible  of  explanation  by 
the  supposition,  that  the  witnesses  had  confounded 
the  visions  of  their  sleeping,  with  the  actual  observa¬ 
tions  and  occurrences  of  their  waking  hours.  At  the 
trial  of  Susanna  Martin,  it  was  in  evidence,  that  one 
John  Ivembal  had  agreed  to  purchase  a  puppy  from 
the  prisoner,  but  had  afterwards  fallen  back  from  his 
bargain,  and  procured  a  puppy  from  some  other  per¬ 
son,  and  that  Martin  was  heard  to  say,  “  If  I  live,  I 
will  give  him  puppies  enough.”  The  circumstances 
seem  to  me  to  render  it  probable,  that  the  following 
piece  of  evidence  given  by  Kembal,  and  to  which  the 
Court  attached  great  weight,  was  the  result  of  a  night¬ 
mare  occasioned  by  his  apprehension  and  dread  of  the 
fulfilment  of  the  reported  threat :  — 

“  I,  this  deponent,  coming  from  his  intended  house  in 
the  woods  to  Edmund  Elliot’s  house  where  I  dwelt,  about  the 
sunset  or  presently  after  ;  and  there  did  arise  a  little  black 
cloud  in  the  north-west,  and  a  few  drops  of  rain,  and  the 
wind  blew  pretty  hard.  In  going  betAveen  the  house  of 
John  Weed  and  the  meeting-house,  this  deponent  came  by 
several  stumps  of  trees  by  the  Avayside  ;  and  he  by  impulse 
he  can  give  no  reason  of,  that  made  him  tumble  over  the 
stumps  one  after  another,  though  he  had  his  axe  upon  his 
shoulder  which  put  him  in  much  danger,  and  made  him  re¬ 
solved  to  avoid  the  next,  but  could  not. 

“  And,  when  he  came  a  little  below  the  meeting-house, 
there  did  appear  a  little  thing  like  a  puppy,  of  a  darkish 
color.  It  shot  betAveen  my  legs  fonvard  and  backward,  as 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


413 


one  that  were  dancing  the  hay.*  And  this  deponent,  being 
free  from  all  fear,  used  all  possible  endeavors  to  cut  it  with 
his  axe,  but  could  not  hurt  it ;  and,  as  he  was  thus  laboring 
with  his  axe,  the  puppy  gave  a  little  jump  from  him,  and 
seemed  to  go  into  the  ground. 

“  In  a  little  further  going,  there  did  appear  a  black  puppy, 
somewhat  bigger  than  the  first,  but  as  black  as  a  coal  to  his 
apprehension,  which  came  against  him  with  such  violence 
as  its  quick  motions  did  exceed  his  motions  of  his  axe,  do 
what  he  could.  And  it  flew  at  his  belly,  and  away,  and 
then  at  his  throat  and  over  his  shoulder  one  way,  and  go 
off,  and  up  at  it  again  another  way ;  and  with  such  quick¬ 
ness,  speed,  and  violence  did  it  assault  him,  as  if  it  would 
tear  out  his  throat  or  his  belly.  A  good  while,  he  was  with¬ 
out  fear ;  but,  at  last,  I  felt  my  heart  to  fail  and  sink  under 
it,  that  I  thought  my  life  was  going  out.  And  I  recovered 
myself,  and  gave  a  start  up,  and  ran  to  the  fence,  and  call¬ 
ing  upou  God  and  naming  the  name  Jesus  Christ,  and  then 
it  invisibly  away.  My  meaning  is,  it  ceased  at  once  ;  but 
this  deponent  made  it  not  known  to  anybody,  for  fretting 
his  wife.”  I 

*  Love’s  Labour’s  Lost,  act  v.,  sc.  1. 

t  There  are  several  other  depositions  in  these  cases,  that  may  per¬ 
haps  be  explained  under  the  head  of  nightmare.  The  following  are 
specimens;  that,  for  instance,  of  Robert  Downer,  of  Salisbury,  who 
testifies  and  says,  — 

“  That,  several  years  ago,  Susanna  Martin,  the  then  wife  of  George  Mar¬ 
tin,  being  brought  to  court  for  a  witch,  the  said  Downer,  having  some  words 
with  her,  this  deponent,  among  other  things,  told  her  he  believed  that  she 
was  a  witch,  by  what  was  said  or  witnessed  against  her;  at  which  she, 
seeming  not  well  affected,  said  that  a,  or  some,  she-devil  would  fetch 
him  away  shortly,  at  which  this  deponent  was  not  much  moved;  but  at 
night,  as  he  lay  in  his  bed  in  his  own  house,  alone,  there  came  at  his  win- 


414 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


We  are  all  exposed  to  the  danger  of  confounding 
the  impressions  left  by  the  imagination,  when,  set  free 
from  all  confinement,  it  runs  wild  in  dreams,  with  the 
actual  experiences  of  wakeful  faculties  in  real  life.  It 
is  a  topic  worthy  the  consideration  of  writers  on  evi¬ 
dence,  and  of  legal  tribunals.  So  also  is  the  effect, 
upon  the  personal  consciousness,  of  the  continued 

dow  the  likeness  of  a  cat,  and  by  and  by  came  up  to  his  bed,  took  fast  hold 
of  his  throat,  and  lay  hard  upon  him  a  considerable  while,  and  was  like 
to  throttle  him.  At  length,  he  minded  what  Susanna  Martin  threatened 
him  with  the  day  before.  He  strove  what  he  could,  and  said,  ‘Avoid,  thou 
she-devil,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost!’ 
and  then  it  let  him  go,  and  jumped  down  upon  the  floor,  and  went  out  at 
the  window  again.” 

Susanna  Martin,  by  the  boldness  and  severity  of  her  language,  in 
defending  herself  against  the  charge  of  witchcraft,  had  evidently,  for  a 
long  time,  rendered  herself  an  object  of  dread,  and  seems  to  have  dis¬ 
turbed  the  dreams  of  the  superstitious  throughout  the  neighborhood. 
For  instance,  Jarvis  Ring,  of  Salisbury,  made  oath  as  follows  :  — 

“  That,  about  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  he  had  been  several  times 
afflicted,  in  the  night-time,  by  some  body  or  some  thing  coming  up  upon 
him  when  he  was  in  bed,  and  did  sorely  afflict  him  by  lying  upon  him; 
and  he  could  neither  move  nor  speak  while  it  was  upon  him,  but  sometimes 
made  a  kind  of  noise  that  folks  did  hear  him  and  come  up  to  him;  and,  as 
soon  as  anybody  came,  it  would  be  gone.  This  it  did  for  a  long  time,  both 
then  and  since,  but  he  did  never  see  anybody  clearly;  but  one  time,  in  the 
night,  it  came  upon  me  as  at  other  times,  and  I  did  then  see  the  person  of 
Susanna  Martin,  of  Amesbury.  I,  this  deponent,  did  perfectly  see  her;  and 
she  came  to  this  deponent,  and  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  bit  him  by  the 
finger  by  force,  and  then  came  and  lay  upon  him  awhile,  as  formerly,  and 
after  a  while  went  away.  The  print  of  the  bite  is  yet  to  be  seen  on  the 
little  finger  of  his  right  hand;  for  it  was  hard  to  heal.  He  further  saith, 
that  several  times  he  was  asleep  when  it  came ;  but,  at  that  time,  he  was  as 
fairly  awaked  as  ever  he  was,  and  plainly  saw  her  shape,  and  felt  her  teeth, 
as  aforesaid.” 

Barnard  Reach  made  oath  substantially  as  follows  :  — 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


415 


repetition  of  the  same  story,  or  of  hearing  it  repeated 
by  others.  Instances  are  given  in  books,  —  perhaps 
can  be  recalled  by  our  own  individual  experience  or 
observation,  —  in  which  what  was  originally  a  delibe- 

“  That  about  six  or  seven  years  past,  being  in  bed  on  a  Lord’s-day  night, 
he  heard  a  scrambling  at  the  window,  and  saw  Susanna  Martin  come  in  at 
the  window,  and  jump  down  upon  the  floor.  She  was  in  her  hood  and 
scarf,  and  the  same  dress  that  she  was  in  before,  at  meeting  the  same  day. 
Being  come  in,  she  was  coming  up  towards  this  deponent’s  face,  but  turned 
back  to  his  feet,  and  took  hold  of  them,  and  drew  up  his  body  into  a  heap, 
and  lay  upon  him  about  an  hour  and  a  half  or  two  hours,  in  all  which  time 
this  deponent  could  not  stir  nor  speak;  but,  feeling  himself  beginning  to  be 
loosened  or  lightened,  and  he  beginning  to  strive,  he  put  out  his  hand  among 
the  clothes,  and  took  hold  of  her  hand,  and  brought  it  up  to  his  mouth,  and 
bit  three  of  the  fingers  (as  he  judges)  to  the  breaking  of  the  bones;  which 
done,  the  said  Martin  went  out  of  the  chamber,  down  the  stairs,  and  out  of 
the  door.  The  deponent  further  declared,  that,  on  another  Lord’s-day  night, 
while  sleeping  on  the  hay  in  a  barn,  about  midnight  the  said  Susanna 
Martin  and  another  came  out  of  the  shop  into  the  barn,  and  one  of  them  said, 
‘  Here  he  is,’  and  then  came  towards  this  deponent.  lie,  having  a  quarter- 
staff,  made  a  blow  at  them ;  but  the  roof  of  the  barn  prevented  it,  and  they 
went  away:  but  this  deponent  followed  them,  and,  as  they  were  going 
towards  the  window,  made  another  blow  at  them,  and  struck  them  both 
down;  but  away  they  went  out  at  the  shop-window,  and  this  deponent  saw 
no  more  of  them.  And  the  rumor  went,  that  the  said  Martin  had  a  broken 
head  at  that  time;  but  the  deponent  cannot  speak  to  that  upon  his  own 
knowledge.” 

Any  one  who  has  had  the  misfortune  to  he  subject  to  nightmare 
will  find  the  elements  of  his  own  experience  very  much  resembling 
the  descriptions  given  by  Kembal,  Downer,  Ring,  and  Peach.  The 
terrors  to  which  superstition,  credulity,  and  ignorance  subjected  their 
minds ;  the  frightful  tales  of  witchcraft  and  apparitions  to  which  they 
were  accustomed  to  listen ;  and  the  contagious  fears  of  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  in  reference  to  Susanna  Martin,  taken  in  connection  with  a 
disordered  digestion,  an  overloaded  stomach,  and  a  hard  bed,  or 
a  strange  lodging-place,  —  are  wholly  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the 
phenomena  to  which  they  testified. 


416 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


rate  fabrication  of  falsehood  or  of  fancy  has  come, 
at  last,  to  he.  regarded  as  a  veritable  truth  and  a  real 
occurrence. 

A  thorough  and  philosophical  treatise  on  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  evidence  is,  in  view  of  these  considerations, 
much  needed.  The  liability  all  men  are  under  to 
confound  the  fictions  of  their  imaginations  with  the 
realities  of  actual  observation  is  not  understood  with 
sufficient  clearness  by  the  community  ;  and,  so  long  as 
it  is  not  understood  and  regarded,  serious  mistakes 
and  inconveniences  will  be  apt  to  occur  in  seasons 
of  general  excitement.  We  are  still  disposed  to  at¬ 
tribute  more  importance  than  we  ought  to  strong 
convictions,  without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  they 
may  not  be  in  reality  delusions  of  the  understanding. 
The  cause  of  truth  demands  a  more  thorough  exami¬ 
nation  of  this  whole  subject.  The  visions  that  ap¬ 
peared  before  the  mind  of  the  celebrated  Colonel 
Gardiner  are  still  regarded  by  the  generality  of  pious 
people  as  evidence  of  miraculous  interposition,  while, 
just  so  far  as  they  are  evidence  to  that  point,  so  far 
is  the  authority  of  Christianity  overthrown ;  for  it  is  a 
fact,  that  Lord  Herbert  of  Clierbury  believed  with  equal 
sincerity  and  confidence  that  he  had  been  vouchsafed 
a  similar  vision  sanctioning  his  labors,  when  about 
to  publish  what  has  been  pronounced  one  of  the  most 
powerful  attacks  ever  made  upon  our  religion.  It  is 
dangerous  to  advance  arguments  in  favor  of  any  cause 
which  may  be  founded  upon  nothing  better  than  the 
reveries  of  an  ardent  imagination ! 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


417 


The  phenomena  of  dreams,  of  the  exercises  and 
convictions  which  occupy  the  mind,  while  the  avenues 
of  the  senses  are  closed,  and  the  soul  is  more  or  less 
extricated  from  its  connection  with  the  body,  particu¬ 
larly  in  the  peculiar  conditions  of  partial  slumber,  are 
among  the  deep  mysteries  of  human  experience.  The 
writers  on  mental  philosophy  have  not  given  them 
the  attention  they  deserve. 

The  testimony  in  these  trials  is  particularly  valu¬ 
able  as  showing  the  power  of  the  imagination  to  com¬ 
pletely  deceive  and  utterly  falsify  the  senses  of  sober 
persons,  when  wide  awake  and  in  broad  daylight. 
The  following  deposition  was  given  in  Court  under 
oath.  The  parties  testifying  were  of  unquestionable 
respectability.  The  man  was  probably  a  brother  of 
James  Bayley,  the  first  minister  of  the  Salem  Village 
parish. 

“The  Deposition  of  Joseph  Bayley,  aged  forty-four 
years.  —  Testificth  and  saith,  that,  on  the  twenty-fifth  day 
of  May  last,  myself  and  my  wife  being  bound  to  Boston, 
on  the  road,  when  I  came  in  sight  of  the  house  where  John 
Procter  did  live,  there  was  a  very  hard  blow  struck  on  my 
breast,  which  caused  great  pain  in  my  stomach  and  amaze¬ 
ment  in  my  head,  but  did  see  no  person  near  me,  only  my 
wife  behind  me  on  the  same  horse ;  and,  Avhen  I  came 
against  said  Procter’s  house,  according  to  my  understanding, 
I  did  see  John  Procter  and  his  wife  at  said  house.  Procter 
himself  looked  out  of  the  window,  and  his  wife  did  stand 
just  without  the  door.  I  told  my  wife  of  it;  and  she  did 
look  that  way,  and  could  see  nothing  but  a  little  maid  at 

27 


VOL.  II. 


418 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  door.  Afterwards,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  aforesaid 
house,  I  was  taken  speechless  for  some  short  time.  My 
wife  did  ask  me  several  questions,  and  desired  me,  that, 
if  I  could  not  speak,  I  should  hold  up  my  hand  ;  which  I 
did,  and  immediately  I  could  speak  as  well  as  ever.  And, 
when  we  came  to  the  way  where  Salem  road  cometh  into 
Ipswich  road,  there  I  received  another  blow  on  my  breast, 
which  caused  so  much  pain  that  I  could  not  sit  on  my  horse. 
And,  when  I  did  alight  off  my  horse,  to  my  understanding, 
I  saw  a  woman  coming  towards  us  about  sixteen  or  twenty 
pole  from  us,  but  did  not  know  who  it  was :  my  wife  could 
not  see  her.  "When  I  did  get  up  on  my  horse  again,  to  my 
understanding,  there  stood  a  cow  where  I  saw  the  woman. 
After  that,  we  went  to  Boston  without  any  further  moles¬ 
tation  ;  but,  after  I  came  home  again  to  Newbury,  I  was 
pinched  and  nipped  by  something  invisible  for  some  time  : 
but  now,  through  God’s  goodness  to  me,  I  am  well  again.  — 
Jurat  in  curia  by  both  persons.” 

Bayley  and  his  wife  were  going  to  Boston  on  elec¬ 
tion  week.  It  was  a  good  two  days’  journey  from 
Newbury,  as  the  roads  then  were,  and  riding  as  they 
did.  According  to  the  custom  Of  the  times,  she  was 
mounted  on  a  pillion  behind  him.  They  had  probably 
passed  the  night  at  the  house  of  Sergeant  Thomas 
Putnam,  with  whom  he  was  connected  by  marriage. 
It  was  at  the  height  of  the  vdtchcraft  delirium. 
Thomas  Putnam’s  house  was  the  very  focus  of  it. 
There  they  had  listened  to  highly  wrought  accounts 
of  its  wonders  and  terrors,  had  witnessed  the  amazing 
phenomena  exhibited  by  Ann  Putnam  and  Mercy 
Lewis,  and  their  minds  been  filled  with  images  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


419 


spectres  of  living  witches,  and  ghosts  of  the  dead. 
They  had  seen  with  their  own  eyes  the  tortures  of 
the  girls  under  cruel  diabolical  influence,  of  which 
they  had  heard  so  much,  and  realized  the  dread  out¬ 
break  of  Satan  and  his  agents  upon  the  lives  and 
souls  of  men. 

They  started  the  nest  morning  on  their  way  through 
the  gloomy  woods  and  over  the. solitary  road.  It  was 
known  that  they  were  to  pass  the  house  of  John 
Procter,  believed  to  be  a  chief  resort  of  devilish  spirits. 
Oppressed  with  terror  and  awe,  Bayley  was  on  the 
watch,  his  heart  in  his  mouth.  The  moment  he  came 
in  sight,  his  nervous  agitation  reached  its  climax ; 
and  he  experienced  the  shock  he  describes.  When 
he  came  opposite  to  the  house,  to  his  horror  there 
was  Procter  looking  at  him  from  the  window,  and 
Procter’s  wife  standing  outside  of  the  door.  He  knew, 
that,  in  their  proper  persons  and  natural  bodies,  they 
were,  at  that  moment,  both  of  them,  and  had  been 
for  six  weeks,  in  irons,  in  one  of  the  cells  of  the  jail 
at  Boston.  Bayley’s  wife,  from  her  position  on  the 
pillion  behind  him,  had  her  face  directed  to  the  other 
side  of  the  road.  He  told  her  what  he  saw.  She 
looked  round  to  the  house,  and  could  see  nothing  but 
a  little  maid  at  the  door.  After  one  or  two  more 
fits  of  fright,  he  reached  the  Lynn  road,  had  escaped 
from  the  infernal  terrors  of  the  infected  region,  and  his 
senses  resumed  their  natural  functions.  It  was  sev¬ 
eral  days  before  his  nervous  agitations  ceased.  Alto¬ 
gether,  this  is  a  remarkable  case  of  hallucination : 


420 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


showing  that  the  wildest  fancies  brought  before  the 
mind  in  dreams  may  be  paralleled  in  waking  hours  ; 
and  that  mental  excitement  may,  even  then,  close  the 
avenues  of  the  senses,  exclude  the  perception  of  real¬ 
ity,  and  substitute  unsubstantial  visions  in  the  place 
of  actual  and  natural  objects. 

There  may  be  an  interest  in  some  minds  to  know 
who  the  “little  maid  at  the  door”  was.  The  elder 
children  of  John  Procter  were  either  married  off,  or 
lived  on  his  farm  at  Ipswich,  with  the  exception  of 
Benjamin,  his  oldest  son,  who  remained  with  his  father 
on  the  Salem  farm.  Benjamin  had  been  imprisoned 
two  days  before  Bayley  passed  the  house.  Four  days 
before,  Sarah,  sixteen  years  of  age,  had  also  been 
arrested,  and  committed  to  jail.  This  left  only  Wil¬ 
liam,  eighteen  years  of  age,  who,  three  days  after,  was 
himself  put  into  prison ;  Samuel,  seven ;  Abigail,  be¬ 
tween  three  and  four  years  of  age ;  and  one  still 
younger.  No  female  of  the  family  was  then  at  the 
house  older  than  Abigail.  This  poor  deserted  child 
was  “  the  little  maid.”  Curiosity  to  see  the  passing 
strangers,  or  possibly  the  hope  that  they  might  be  her 
father  and  mother,  or  her  brother  and  sister,  brought 
her  to  the  door. 

In  the  terrible  consequences  that  resulted  from  the 
mischievous,  and  perhaps  at  the  outset  merely  sport¬ 
ive,  proceedings  of  the  children  in  Mr.  Parris’s  family, 
we  have  a  striking  illustration  of  the  principle,  that 
no  one  can  foretell,  with  respect  either  to  himself  or 
others,  the  extent  of  the  suffering  and  injury  that  may 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


421 


be  occasioned  by  the  least  departure  from  truth,  or 
from  the  practice  of  deception.  In  the  horrible  suc¬ 
cession  of  crimes  through  which  those  young  persons 
were  led  to  pass,  in  the  depth  of  depravity  to  which 
they  were  thrown,  we  discern  the  fate  that  endangers 
all  who  enter  upon  a  career  of  wickedness. 

No  one  can  have  an  adequate  knowledge  of  the 
human  mind,  who  has  not  contemplated  its  develop¬ 
ments  in  scenes  like  those  that  have  now  been  related. 
It  may  be  said  of  the  frame  of  our  spiritual,  even  with 
more  emphasis  than  of  our  corporeal  nature,  that  we 
are  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made.  In  the  maturity 
of  his  bodily  and  mental  organization,  health  gliding 
through  his  veins,  strength  and  symmetry  clothing  his 
form,  intelligence  beaming  from  his  countenance,  and 
immortality  stamped  on  his  brow,  man  is  indeed  the 
noblest  work  of  God.  In  the  degradation  and  cor¬ 
ruption  to  which  he  can  descend,  he  is  the  most 
odious  and  loathsome  object  in  the  creation.  The 
human  mind,  when  all  its  faculties  are  fully  devel¬ 
oped  and  in  proper  proportions,  reason  seated  on 
its  .rightful  throne  and  shedding  abroad  its  light, 
memory  embracing  the  past,  hope  smiling  upon  the 
future,  faith  leaning  on  Heaven,  and  the  affections 
diffusing  through  all  their  gentle  warmth,  is  worthy 
of  its  source,  deserves  its  original  title  of  “  image  of 
God,”  and  is  greater  and  better  than  the  whole  ma¬ 
terial  universe.  It  is  nobler  than  all  the  works  of 
God ;  for  it  is  an  emanation,  a  part  of  God  himself, 
“  a  ray  from  the  fountain  of  light.”  But  where,  I 


422 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ask,  can  you  find  a  more  deplorable  and  miserable 
object  than  the  mind  in  ruins,  tossed  by  its  own  re¬ 
bellious  principles,  and  distorted  by  the  monstrously 
unequal  development  of  its  faculties  ?  You  will  look 
in  vain  upon  the  earthquake,  the  volcano,  or  the  hur¬ 
ricane,  for  those  elements  of  the  awful  and  terrible 
which  are  manifested  in  a  community  of  men  whose 
passions  have  trampled  upon  their  principles,  whose 
imaginations  have  overthrown  the  government  of  rea¬ 
son,  and  who  are  swept  along  by  the  torrent  until  all 
order  and  security  are  swallowed  up  and  lost.  Such 
a  spectacle  we  have  now  been  witnessing.  We  have 
seen  the  whole  population  of  this  place  and  vicinity 
yielding  to  the  sway  of  their  credulous  fancies,  allow¬ 
ing  their  passions  to  be  worked  up  to  a  tremendous 
pitch  of  excitement,  and  rushing  into  excesses  of 
folly  and  violence  that  have  left  a  stain  on  their 
memory,  and  will  awaken  a  sense  of  shame,  pity,  and 
amazement  in  the  minds  of  their  latest  posterity. 

There  is  nothing  more  mysterious  than  the  self- 
deluding  power  of  the  mind,  and  there  never  were 
scenes  in  which  it  was  more  clearly  displayed  than 
the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  Honest  men  testified, 
with  perfect  confidence  and  sincerity,  to  the  most  ab¬ 
surd  impossibilities ;  while  those  who  thought  them¬ 
selves  victims  of  diabolical  influence  would  actually 
exhibit,  in  their  corporeal  frames,  all  the  appropriate 
symptoms  of  the  sufferings  their  imaginations  had 
brought  upon  them.  Great  ignorance  prevailed  in 
reference  to  the  influences  of  the  body  and  the  mind 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


423 


upon  each  other.  While  the  imagination  was  called 
into  a  more  extensive  and  energetic  action  than  at 
any  succeeding  or  previous  period,  its  properties 
and  laws  were  but  little  understood :  the  extent  of 
the  connection  of  the  will  and  the  muscular  system, 
the  reciprocal  influence  of  the  nerves  and  the  fancy, 
and  the  strong  and  universally  pervading  sympathy 
between  our  physical  and  moral  constitutions,  were 
almost  wholly  unknown.  These  important  subjects, 
indeed,  are  hut  imperfectly  understood  at  the  present 
day. 

It  may  perhaps  be  affirmed,  that  the  relations  of 
the  human  mind  with  the  spiritual  world  will  never 
be  understood  while  we  continue  in  the  present  stage 
of  existence  and  mode  of  being.  The  error  of  our 
ancestors  —  and  it  is  an  error  into  which  men  have 
always  been  prone  to  fall,  and  from  which  our  own 
times  are  by  no  means  exempt  —  was  in  imagining 
that  their  knowledge  had  extended,  in  this  direction, 
beyond  the  boundary  fixed  unalterably  to  our  re¬ 
searches,  while  in  this  corporeal  life. 

It  admits  of  much  question,  whether  human  science 
can  ever  find  a  solid  foundation  in  what  relates  to  the 
world  of  spirits.  The  only  instrument  of  knowledge 
we  can  here  employ  is  language.  Careful  thinkers 
long  ago  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  frame  a  language  precisely  and  exclusively  adapted 
to  convey  abstract  and  spiritual  ideas,  even  if  it  is 
possible,  as  some  philosophers  have  denied,  for  the 
mind,  in  its  present  state,  to  have  such  ideas.  All 


424 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


attempts  to  construct  such  a  language,  though  made 
by  the  most  ingenious  men,  have  failed.  Language 
is  based  upon  imagery,  and  associations  drawn  from 
so  much  of  the  world  as  the  senses  disclose  to  us ; 
that  is,  from  material  objects  and  their  relations.  We 
are  here  confined,  as  it  were,  within  narrow  walls. 
We  can  catch  only  glimpses  of  what  is  above  and 
around  us,  outside  of  those  walls.  Such  glimpses 
may  be  vouchsafed,  from  time  to  time,  to  rescue  us 
from  sinking  into  materialism,  and  to  keep  alive  our 
faith  in  scenes  of  existence  remaining  to  be  revealed 
when  the  barriers  of  our  imprisonment  shall  be  taken 
down,  and  what  we  call  death  lift  us  to  a  clearer  and 
broader  vision  of  universal  being. 

Of  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  world,  we  are  assured 
by  consciousness  and  by  faith ;  but  our  knowledge  of 
that  world,  so  far  as  it  can  go  into  particulars,  or  be¬ 
come  the  subject  of  definition  or  expression,  extends 
no  further  than  revelation  opens  the  way.  In  all  ages, 
men  have  been  awakened  to  the  “  wonders  of  the  in¬ 
visible  world;”  but  they  remain  “wonders”  still. 
Nothing  like  a  permanent,  stable,  or  distinct  science 
has  ever  been  achieved  in  this  department.  Man  and 
God  are  all  that  are  placed  within  our  ken.  Metaphys¬ 
ics  and  Theology  are  the  names  given  to  the  sciences 
that  relate  to  them.  The  greater  the  number  of  books 
written  by  human  learning  and  ingenuity  to  expound 
them,  the  more  advanced  the  intelligence  and  piety  of 
mankind,  the  less,  it  is  confessed,  do  we  know  of  them 
in  detail,  the  more  they  rise  above  our  comprehension, 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


425 


the  more  unfathomable  become  their  depths.  Expe¬ 
rience,  history,  the  progress  of  light,  all  increase  our 
sense  of  the  impossibility  of  estimating  the  capacities 
of  the  human  soul.  So  also  we  find  that  the  higher 
we  rise  towards  the  Deity,  in  the  contemplation  of  his 
works  and  word,  the  more  does  he  continue  to  tran¬ 
scend  our  power  to  describe  or  imagine  his  greatness 
and  glory.  The  revelation  which  the  Saviour  brought 
to  mankind  is  all  that  the  heart  of  man  need  desire, 
or  the  mind  of  man  can  comprehend.  We  are  God’s 
children,  and  he  is  our  Father.  That  is  all ;  and,  the 
wiser  and  better  we  become,  the  more  we  are  con¬ 
vinced  and  satisfied  that  it  is  enough. 

There  are,  undoubtedly,  innumerable  beings  in  the 
world  of  spirits,  besides  departed  souls,  the  Redeemer, 
and  the  Father.  But  of  such  beings  we  have,  while 
here,  no  absolute  and  specific  knowledge.  In  every 
age,  as  well  as  in  our  own,  there  have  been  persons 
who  have  believed  themselves  to  hold  communica¬ 
tion  with  unseen  spirits.  The  methods  of  entering 
into  such  communication  have  been  infinitely  diversi¬ 
fied,  from  the  incantations  of  ancient  sorcery  to  the 
mediums  and  rappings  of  the  present  day.  In  former 
periods,  particularly  where  the  belief  of  witchcraft 
prevailed,  it  was  thought  that  such  communications 
could  be  had  only  with  evil  spirits,  and,  mostly,  with 
the  Chief  of  evil  spirits.  They  were  accordingly  treated 
as  criminal,  and  made  the  subject  of  the  severest  pen¬ 
alties  known  to  the  law.  In  our  day,  no  such  penalties 
are  attached  to  the  practice  of  seeking  spiritual  com- 


426 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


munications.  Those  who  have  a  fancy  for  such  experi¬ 
ments  are  allowed  to  amuse  themselves  in  this  way 
without  reproach  or  molestation.  It  is  not  charged 
upon  them  that  they  are  dealing  with  the  Evil  One  or 
any  of  his  subordinates.  They  do  not  imagine  such  a 
thing  themselves.  I  have  no  disposition,  at  any  time, 
in  any  given  case,  to  dispute  the  reality  of  the  wonder¬ 
ful  stories  told  in  reference  to  such  matters.  All  that 
I  am  prompted  ever  to  remark  is,  that,  if  spirits  do 
come,  as  is  believed,  at  the  call  of  those  who  seek  to  put 
themselves  into  communication  with  them,  there  is  no 
evidence,  I  venture  to  suggest,  that  they  are  good 
spirits.  I  have  never  heard  of  their  doing  much 
good,  substantially,  to  any  one.  No  important  truth 
has  been  revealed  by  them,  no  discovery  been  made, 
no  science  had  its  field  enlarged  ;  no  department  of 
knowledge  has  been  brought  into  a  clearer  light ;  no 
great  interest  has  been  promoted  ;  no  movement  of 
human  affairs,  whether  in  the  action  of  nations  or  the 
transactions  of  men,  has  been  advanced  or  in  any  way 
facilitated ;  no  impulse  has  been  given  to  society,  and 
no  elevation  to  life  and  character.  It  may  be  that  the 
air  is  full  of  spiritual  beings,  hovering  about  us ;  but 
all  experience  shows  that  no  benefit  can  be  derived 

4 

from  seeking  their  intervention  to  share  with  us  the 
duties  or  the  burdens  of  our  present  probation.  The 
mischiefs  which  have  flowed  from  the  belief  that  they 
can  operate  upon  human  affairs,  and  from  attempting 
to  have  dealings  with  them,  have  been  illustrated  in 
the  course  of  our  narrative.  In  this  view  of  the  sub- 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


427 


ject,  no  law  is  needed  to  prevent  real  or  pretended 
communication  with  invisible  beings.  Enlightened  re¬ 
flection,  common  sense,  natural  prudence,  would  seem 
to  be  sufficient  to  keep  men  from  meddling  at  all  with 
practices,  or  countenancing  notions,  from  which  all 
history  proclaims  that  no  good  has  ever  come,  but 
incalculable  evil  flowed. 

For  the  conduct  of  life,  while  here  in  these  bodies, 
we  must  confine  our  curiosity  to  fields  of  knowledge 
open  to  our  natural  and  ordinary  faculties,  and  em¬ 
braced  within  the  limits  of  the  established  condition 
of  things.  Our  fathers  filled  their  fancies  with  the 
visionary  images  of  ghosts,  demons,  apparitions,  and 
all  other  supposed  forms  and  shadows  of  the  invisible 
world ;  lent  their  ears  to  marvellous  stories  of  com¬ 
munications  with  spirits ;  gave  to  supernatural  tales 
of  witchcraft  and  demonology  a  wondering  credence, 
and  allowed  them  to  occupy  their  conversation,  specu¬ 
lations,  and  reveries.  They  carried  a  belief  of  such 
things,  and  a  proneness  to  indulge  it,  into  their  daily 
life,  their  literature,  and  the  proceedings  of  tribunals, 
ecclesiastical  and  civil.  The  fearful  results  shrouded 
their  annals  in  darkness  and  shame.  Let  those  re¬ 
sults  for  ever  stand  conspicuous,  beacon-monuments 
warning  us,  and  coming  generations,  against  super¬ 
stition  in  every  form,  and  all  credulous  and  vain 
attempts  to  penetrate  beyond  the  legitimate  bounda¬ 
ries  of  human  knowledge. 

The  phenomena  of  the  real  world,  so  far  as  science 
discloses  them  to  our  contemplation ;  the  records  of 


428 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


actual  history ;  the  lessons  of  our  own  experience  ;  the 
utterances  of  the  voice  within,  audible  only  to  our¬ 
selves  ;  and  the  teachings  of  the  Divine  Word,  —  are 
sufficient  for  the  exercise  of  our  faculties  and  the 
education  of  our  souls  during  this  brief  period  of 
our  being,  while  in  these  bodies.  In  God’s  appointed 
time,  we  shall  be  transferred  to  a  higher  level  of  vision. 
Then,  but  not  before,  we  may  hope  for  re-union  with 
disembodied  spirits,  for  intercourse  with  angels,  and 
for  a  nearer  and  more  open  communion  wdtli  all  divine 
beings. 

The  principal  difference  in  the  methods  by  which 
communications  were  believed  to  be  made  between 
mortals  and  spiritual  beings,  at  the  time  of  the  witch¬ 
craft  delusion  and  now,  is  this.  Then  it  was  chiefly 
by  the  medium  of  the  eye,  but  at  present  by  the  ear. 
The  “  afflicted  children  ”  professed  to  have  seen  and 
conversed  with  the  ghosts  of  George  Burroughs’s  former 
wives  and  of  others.  They  also  professed  to  have  seen 
the  shapes  or  appearances  of  living  persons  in  a  dis¬ 
embodied  form,  or  in  the  likeness  of  some  animal  or 
creature.  Now  it  is  affirmed  by  those  calling  them¬ 
selves  Spiritualists,  that,  by  certain  rappings  or  other 
incantations,  they  can  summon  into  immediate  but 
invisible  presence  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  hold 
conferences  with  them,  and  draw  from  them  infor¬ 
mation  not  derivable  from  any  sources  of  human 
knowledge.  There  is  no  essential  distinction  between 
the  old  and  the  new  belief  and  practice.  The  con¬ 
sequences  that  resulted  from  the  former  would  be 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


429 


likely  to  result  from  the  latter,  if  it  should  obtain 
universal  or  general  credence,  he  allowed  to  mix  with 
judicial  proceedings,  or  to  any  extent  affect  the  rights 
of  person,  property,  or  character. 

The  “  afflicted  children  ”  at  Salem  Village  had,  by 
long  practice,  become  wonderful  adepts  in  the  art  of 
jugglery,  and  probably  of  ventriloquism.  They  did 
many  extraordinary  things,  and  were  believed  to  have 
constant  communications  with  ghosts  and  spectres  ; 
but  they  did  not  attain  to  spiritual  rapping.  If  they 
had  possessed  that  power,  the  credulity  of  judges,  min¬ 
isters,  magistrates,  and  people,  would  have  been  utterly 
overwhelmed,  and  no  limit  could  have  been  put  to  the 
destruction  they  might  have  wrought. 

If  there  was  any  thing  supernatural  in  the  witch¬ 
craft  of  1692,  if  any  other  than  human  spirits  were 
concerned  at  all,  one  thing  is  beyond  a  doubt :  they 
were  shockingly  wicked  spirits,  and  led  those  who 
dealt  with  them  to  the  utmost  delusion,  crime,  and 
perdition ;  and  this  example  teaches  all  who  seek  to 
consult  with  spirits,  through  a  medium  or  in  any 
other  way,  to  be  very  strict  to  require  beforehand 
the  most  satisfactory  and  conclusive  evidence  of  good 
character  before  they  put  themselves  into  communi¬ 
cation  with  them.  Spirits  who  are  said  to  converse 
with  people,  in  these  modern  ages,  cannot  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  having  much  claim  to  a  good  repute.  No 
valuable  discovery  of  truth,  no  important  guidance 
in  human  conduct,  no  useful  instruction,  has  ever 
been  conveyed  to  mankind  through  them ;  and  much 


430 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


mischief  perhaps  may  have  resulted  from  confiding 
in  them.  It  is  not  wise  to  place  our  minds  under 
the  influence  of  any  of  our  fellow-creatures,  in  the  or¬ 
dinary  guise  of  humanity,  unless  we  know  something 
about  them  entitling  them  to  our  acquaintance  ;  much 
less  so,  to  take  them  into  our  intimacy  or  confidence. 
Spirits  cannot  be  put  under  oath,  or  their  credibility 
be  subjected  to  tests.  Whether  they  are  spirits  of 
truth  or  falsehood  cannot  be  known  ;  and  common 
caution  would  seem  to  dictate  an  avoidance  of  their 
company.  The  fields  of  knowledge  opened  to  us  in 
the  works  of  mortal  men ;  the  stores  of  human  learn¬ 
ing  and  science ;  the  pages  of  history,  sacred  or  pro¬ 
fane  ;  the  records  of  revelation ;  and  the  instructions 
and  conversation  of  the  wise  and  good  of  our  fellow- 
creatures,  while  in  the  body,  —  are  wide  enough  for  our 
exploration,  and  may  well  occupy  the  longest  lifetime. 

In  its  general  outlines  and  minuter  details,  Salem 
Witchcraft  is  an  illustration  of  the  fatal  effects  of 
allowing  the  imagination  inflamed  by  passion  to  take 
the  place  of  common  sense,  and  of  pushing  the  curi¬ 
osity  and  credence  of  the  human  mind,  in  this  stage 
of  our  being,  while  in  these  corporeal  embodiments, 
beyond  the  boundaries  that  ought  to  limit  their  ex¬ 
ercise.  If  we  disregard  those  boundaries,  and  try  to 
overleap  them,  we  shall  be  liable  to  the  same  results. 
The  lesson  needs  to  be  impressed  equally  upon  all 
generations  and  ages  of  the  world’s  future  history. 
Essays  have  been  written  and  books  published  to 
prove  that  the  sense  of  the  miraculous  is  destined 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  TILLAGE. 


431 


to  decline  as  mankind  becomes  more  enlightened,  and 
ascribing  a  greater  or  less  tendency  to  the  indulgence 
of  this  sense  to  particular  periods  of  the  church,  or 
systems  of  belief,  or  schools  of  what  is  called  phi¬ 
losophy.  It  is  maintained  that  it  was  more  prevalent 
in  the  mediasval  ages  than  in  modern  times.  Some 
assert  that  it  has  had  a  greater  development  in  Catholic 
than  Protestant  countries ;  and  some,  perhaps,  insist 
upon  the  reverse.  Some  attempt  to  show  that  it  has 
manifested  itself  more  remarkably  among  Puritans 
than  in  other  classes  of  Protestant  Christians.  The 
last  and  most  pretentious  form  of  this  dogma  is,  that 
the  sense  of  the  miraculous  fades  away  in  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  what  arrogates  to  itself  the  name  of  Rational¬ 
ism.  This  is  one  of  the  delusive  results  of  introducing 
generalization  into  historical  disquisitions.  History 
deals  with  man.  Man  is  always  the  same.  The  race 
consists,  not  of  an  aggregation,  but  of  individuals,  in 
all  ages,  never  moulded  or  melted  into  classes.  Each 
individual  has  ever  retained  his  distinctness  from  every 
other.  There  has  been  the  same  infinite  variety  in 
every  period,  in  every  race,  in  every  nation.  Society, 
philosophy,  custom,  can  no  more  obliterate  these  varie¬ 
ties  than  they  can  bring  the  countenances  and  features 
of  men  into  uniformity.  Diversity  everywhere  alike 
prevails.  The  particular  forms  and  shapes  in  which 
the  sense  of  the  miraculous  may  express  itself  have 
passed  and  will  pass  away  in  the  progress  of  civiliza¬ 
tion.  But  the  sense  itself  remains  ;  just  as  particular 
costumes  and  fashions  of  garment  pass  away,  while  the 


432 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


human  form,  its  front  erect  and  its  vision  towards 
the  heavens,  remains.  The  sense  of  the  miraculous 
remains  with  Protestants  as  much  as  with  Catholics, 
with  Churchmen  as  much  as  with  Puritans,  with  those 
who  reject  all  creeds,  equally  with  those  whose  creeds 
are  the  longest  and  the  oldest.  In  our  day,  it  must 
have  been  generally  noticed,  that  the  wonders  of  what 
imagines  itself  to  be  Spiritualism  are  rather  more 
accredited  by  persons  who  aspire  to  the  character  of 
rationalists  than  by  those  who  hold  on  tenaciously 
to  the  old  landmarks  of  Orthodoxy. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  sense  of  the  miraculous  has 
not  declined,  and  never  can.  It  will  grow  deeper 
and  stronger  with  the  progress  of  true  intelligence. 
As  long  as  man  thinks,  he  will  feel  that  he  is  him¬ 
self  a  perpetual  miracle.  The  more  he  thinks,  the 
more  will  he  feel  it.  The  mind  which  can  wander  into 
the  deepest  depths  of  the  starry  heavens,  and  feel 
itself  to  be  there ;  which,  pondering  over  the  printed 
page,  lives  in  the  most  distant  past,  communes  with 
sages  of  hoar  antiquity,  with  prophets  and  apostles, 
joins  the  disciples  as  they  walk  with  the  risen  Lord 
to  Ennnaus,  or  mingles  in  the  throng  that  listen  to 
Paul  at  Mars’  Hill,  —  knows  itself  to  be  beyond  the 
power  of  space  or  time,  and  greater  than  material 
things.  It  knows  not  what  it  shall  be  ;  but  it  feels 
that  it  is  something  above  the  present  and  visible. 
It  realizes  the  spiritual  world,  and  will  do  so  more 
and  more,  the  higher  its  culture,  the  greater  its  free¬ 
dom,  and  the  wider  its  view  of  the  material  nature 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


433 


by  which  it  is  environed,  while  in  this  transitory  stage 
of  its  history. 

The  lesson  of  our  story  will  be  found  not  to  discard 
spiritual  things,  but  to  teach  us,  while  in  the  flesh, 
not  to  attempt  to  break  through  present  limitations,  not 
to  seek  to  know  more  than  has  been  made  known  of 
the  unseen  and  invisible,  but  to  keep  the  inquiries 
of  our  minds  and  the  action  of  society  within  the 
bounds  of  knowledge  now  attainable,  and  extend  our 
curious  researches  and  speculations  only  as  far  as 
we  can  here  have  solid  ground  to  stand  upon. 

To  explain  the  superstitious  opinions  that  took  effect 
in  the  witchcraft  delusion,  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
the  state  of  biblical  criticism  at  that  period.  That 
department  of  theological  learning  was  then  in  a  very 
immature  condition. 

The  authority  of  Scripture,  as  it  appeared  on  the 
face  of  the  standard  version,  seemed  to  require  them 
to  pursue  the  course  they  adopted  ;  and  those  enlarged 
and  just  principles  of  interpretation  which  we  are 
taught  by  the  learned  of  all  denominations  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  day  to  apply  to  the  Sacred  Writings  had  not  then 
been  brought  to  the  view  of  the  people  or  received 
by  the  clergy. 

It  was  gravely  argued,  for  instance,  that  there  was 
nothing  improbable  in  the  idea  that  witches  had  the 
power,  in  virtue  of  their  compact  with  the  Devil,  of 
riding  aloft  through  the  air,  because  it  is  recorded,  in 
the  history  of  our  Lord’s  temptation,  that  Satan  trans¬ 
ported  him  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  pinnacle  of  the 

28 


VOL.  II. 


434 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


temple,  and  to  the  summit  of  an  exceedingly  high 
mountain.  And  Cotton  Mather  declares,  that,  to  his 
apprehension,  the  disclosures  of  the  wonderful  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  Devil,  upon  and  through  his  subjects,  that 
were  made  in  the  course  of  the  witchcraft  prosecu¬ 
tions,  had  shed  a  marvellous  light  upon  the  Scriptures! 
What  a  perversion  of  the  Sacred  Writings  to  employ 
them  for  the  purpose  of  sanctioning  the  extravagant 
and  delirious  reveries  of  the  human  imagination ! 
What  a  miserable  delusion,  to  suppose  that  the  Word 
of  God  could  receive  illumination  from  the  most  ab¬ 
surd  and  horrible  superstition  that  ever  brooded  in 
darkness  over  the  mind  of  man ! 

One  of  the  sources  of  the  delusion  of  1692  was 
ignorance  of  many  natural  laws  that  have  been  re¬ 
vealed  by  modern  science.  A  vast  amount  of  knowl¬ 
edge  on  these  subjects  has  been  attained  since  that 
time.  In  our  halls  of  education,  in  associations  for 
the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  in  a  diversified  and 
all-pervading  popular  literature,  what  was  dark  and 
impenetrable  mystery  then  has  been  explained,  ac¬ 
counted  for,  and  brought  within  the  grasp  of  all  minds. 
The  contemplation  of  the  evils  brought  upon  our 
predecessors  by  their  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  nature 
cannot  but  lead  us  to  appreciate  more  highly  our 
opportunities  to  get  knowledge  in  this  department. 
As  we  advance  into  the  interior  of  the  physical  system 
to  which  we  belong;  are  led  in  succession  from  one 
revelation  of  beauty  and  grandeur  to  another,  and  the 
field  of  light  and  truth  displaces  that  of  darkness  and 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


435 


mystery ;  while  the  fearful  images  that  disturbed  the 
faitli  and  bewildered  the  thoughts  of  our  fathers  are 
dissolving  and  vanishing,  the  whole  host  of  spirits, 
ghosts,  and  demons  disappearing,  and  the  presence 
and  providence  of  God  alone  found  to  fill  all  scenes  and 
cause  all  effects,  —  our  hearts  ought  to  rise  to  him  in 
loftier  adoration  and  holier  devotion.  If,  while  we 
enjoy  a  fuller  revelation  of  his  infinite  and  all-glorious 
operations  and  designs  than  our  fathers  did,  the  senti¬ 
ment  of  piety  which  glowed  in  their  hearts  like  a  coal 
from  the  altar  of  God  has  been  permitted  to  grow  dim 
in  ours,  no  reproach  their  errors  and  faults  can  pos¬ 
sibly  authorize  will  equal  that  which  will  justly  fall 
upon  us. 

Another  cause  of  their  delusion  was  too  great  a 
dependence  upon  the  imagination.  We  shall  find  no 
lesson  more  clearly  taught  by  history,  by  experience, 
or  by  observation,  than  this,  that  man  is  never  safe 
while  cither  his  fancy  or  his  feeling  is  the  guiding 
principle  of  his  nature.  There  is  a  strong  and  con¬ 
stant  attraction  between  his  imagination  and  his  pas¬ 
sions  ;  and,  if  either  is  permitted  to  exercise  unlimited 
sway,  the  other  will  most  certainly  be  drawn  into  co¬ 
operation  with  it,  and,  when  they  are  allowed  to  act 
without  restraint  upon  each  other  and  with  each  other, 
they  lead  to  the  derangement  and  convulsion  of  his 
whole  system.  They  constitute  the  combustible  ele¬ 
ments  of  our  being :  one  serves  as  the  spark  to  explode 
the  other.  Reason,  enlightened  by  revelation  and 
guided  by  conscience,  is  the  great  conservative  prin- 


486 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


ciple :  while  that  exercises  the  sovereign  power  over 
the  fancy  and  the  passions,  we  are  safe ;  if  it  is  de¬ 
throned,  no  limit  can  be  assigned  to  the  ruin  that  may 
follow.  In  the  scenes  we  have  now  been  called  to 
witness,  we  have  perceived  to  what  lengths  of  folly, 
cruelty,  and  crime  even  good  men  have  been  carried, 
who  relinquished  the  aid,  rejected  the  counsels,  and 
abandoned  the  guidance  of  their  reason. 

Another  influence  that  operated  to  produce  the  catas¬ 
trophe  in  1692  was  the  power  of  contagious  sympathy. 
Every  wise  man  and  good  citizen  ought  to  be  aware  of 
the  existence  and  operation  of  this  power.  There 
seems  indeed  to  he  a  constitutional,  original,  sympathy 
in  our  nature.  When  men  act  in  a  crowd,  their  heart¬ 
strings  are  prone  to  vibrate  in  unison.  Whatever 
chord  of  passion  is  struck  in  one  breast,  the  same  will 
ring  forth  its  wild  note  through  the  whole  mass.  This 
principle  shows  itself  particularly  in  seasons  of  excite¬ 
ment,  and  its  power  rises  in  proportion  to  the  ardor 
and  zeal  of  those  upon  whom  it  acts.  It  is  for  every 
one  who  desires  to  be  preserved  from  the  excesses  of 
popular  feeling,  and  to  prevent  the  community  to  which 
he  belongs  from  plunging  into  riotous  and  blind  com¬ 
motions,  to  keep  his  own  judgment  and  emotions  as 
free  as  possible  from  a  power  that  seizes  all  it  can 
reach,  draws  them  into  its  current,  and  sweeps  them 
round  and  round  like  the  Maelstrom,  until  they  are 
overwhelmed  and  buried  in  its  devouring  vortex. 
When  others  are  heated,  the  only  wisdom  is  to  deter¬ 
mine  to  keep  cool ;  whenever  a  people  or  an  individual 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


437 


is  rushing  headlong,  it  is  the  duty  of  patriotism  and  of 
friendship  to  check  the  motion. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  remarked  —  and  I  should 
he  sorry  to  bring  the  subject  to  a  close  without  urging 
the  thought  upon  your  attention  —  that  the  mere  power 
of  sympathy,  the  momentum  with  which  men  act  in  a 
crowd,  is  itself  capable  of  convulsing  society  and 
overthrowing  all  its  safeguards,  without  the  aid  or 
supposed  agency  of  supernatural  beings.  The  early 
history  of  the  colony  of  New  York  presents  a  case 
in  point. 

In  1741,  just  half  a  century  after  the  witchcraft 
prosecutions  in  Massachusetts,  the  city  of  New  York, 
then  containing  about  nine  thousand  inhabitants,  wit¬ 
nessed  a  scene  quite  rivalling,  in  horror  and  folly,  that 
presented  here.  Some  one  started  the  idea,  that  a  con¬ 
spiracy  was  on  foot,  among  the  colored  portion  of  the 
inhabitants,  to  murder  the  whites.  The  story  was 
passed  from  one  to  another.  Although  subsequently 
ascertained  to  have  been  utterly  without  foundation, 
no  one  stopped  to  inquire  into  its  truth,  or  had  the 
wisdom  or  courage  to  discountenance  its  circulation. 
Soon  a  universal  panic,  like  a  conflagration,  spread 
through  the  whole  community ;  and  the  results  were 
most  frightful.  More  than  one  hundred  persons  were 
cast  into  prison.  Four  white  persons  and  eighteen 
negroes  were  hanged.  Eleven  negroes  were  burned 
at  the  stake,  and  fifty  were  transported  into  slavery. 
As  in  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  a  clergyman  was 
among  the  victims,  and  perished  on  the  gallows. 


438 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


The  “  New-York  Negro  Plot,”  as  it  was  called, 
was  indeed  marked  by  all  the  features  of  absurdity  in 
the  delusion,  ferocity  in  the  popular  excitement,  and 
destruction  along  the  path  of  its  progress,  which  be¬ 
longed  to  the  witchcraft  proceedings  here,  and  shows 
that  any  people,  given  over  to  the  power  of  contagious 
passion,  may  be  swept  by  desolation,  and  plunged  into 
ruin. 

One  of  the  practical  lessons  inculcated  by  the  his¬ 
tory  that  has  now  been  related  is,  that  no  duty  is 
more  certain,  none  more  important,  than  a  free  and 
fearless  expression  of  opinion,  by  all  persons,  on  all 
occasions.  No  wise  or  philosophic  person  would  think 
of  complaining  of  the  diversities  of  sentiment  it  is  like¬ 
ly  to  develop.  Such  diversities  are  the  vital  principle  of 
free  communities,  and  the  only  elements  of  popular 
intelligence.  If  the  right  to  utter  them  is  asserted  by 
all  and  for  all,  tolerance  is  secured,  and  no  inconve¬ 
nience  results.  It  is  probable  that  there  were  many 
persons  here  in  1692  who  doubted  the  propriety  of 
the  proceedings  at  their  commencement,  but  who  were 
afterwards  prevailed  upon  to  fall  into  the  current  and 
swell  the  tide.  If  they  had  all  discharged  their  duty 
to  their  country  and  their  consciences  by  freely  and 
boldly  uttering  their  disapprobation  and  declaring  their 
dissent,  who  can  tell  but  that  the  whole  tragedy  might 
have  been  prevented  ?  and,  if  it  might,  the  blood  of  the 
innocent  may  be  said,  in  one  sense,  to  be  upon  their 
heads. 

The  leading  features  and  most  striking  aspects  of 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


439 


the  witchcraft  delusion  have  been  repeated  in  places 
where  witches  and  the  interference  of  supernatural 
beings  are  never  thought  of:  whenever  a  community 
gives  way  to  its  passions,  and  spurns  the  admonitions 
and  casts  off  the  restraints  of  reason,  there  is  a  delu¬ 
sion  that  can  hardly  he  described  in  any  other  phrase. 
We  cannot  glance  our  eye  over  the  face  of  our  country 
without  beholding  such  scenes :  and,  so  long  as  they 
are  exhibited  ;  so  long  as  we  permit  ourselves  to  invest 
objects  of  little  or  no  real  importance  with  such  an 
inordinate  imaginary  interest  that  we  are  ready  to  go 
to  every  extremity  rather  than  relinquish  them ;  so 
long  as  we  yield  to  the  impulse  of  passion,  and  plunge 
into  excitement,  and  take  counsel  of  our  feelings  rather 
than  our  judgment,  —  we  are  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  our  fanatical  ancestors.  It  would  be  wiser  to  direct 
our  ridicule  and  reproaches  to  the  delusions  of  our 
own  times  than  to  those  of  a  previous  age ;  and  it 
becomes  us  to  treat  with  charity  and  mercy  the  fail¬ 
ings  of  our  predecessors,  at  least  until  we  have  ceased 
to  imitate  and  repeat  them. 

It  lias  been  my  object  to  collect  and  arrange  all  the 
materials  within  reach  necessary  to  give  a  correct  and 
adequate  view  of  the  passage  of  history  related  and 
discussed  in  this  work,  and  to  suggest  the  considera¬ 
tions  and  conclusions  required  by  truth  and  justice. 
It  is  worthy  of  the  most  thoughtful  contemplation. 
The  moralist,  metaphysician,  and  political  philosopher 
will  find  few  chapters  of  human  experience  more 
fraught  with  instruction,  and  may  well  ponder  upon 


440 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


the  lessons  it  teaches,  scrutinize  thoroughly  all  its 
periods,  phases,  and  branches,  analyze  its  causes,  elim¬ 
inate  its  elements,  and  mark  its  developments.  The 
laws,  energies,  capabilities,  and  liabilities  of  our  na¬ 
ture,  as  exhibited  in  the  character  of  individuals  and 
in  the  action  of  society,  are  remarkably  illustrated. 
The  essential  facts  belonging  to  the  transaction,  gath¬ 
ered  from  authentic  records  and  reliable  testimonies 
and  traditions,  have  been  faithfully  presented.  The 
Witchcraft  Delusion  of  1692,  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  recover  it  from  misunderstanding  and  oblivion, 
has  been  brought  to  view ;  and  I  indulge  the  belief, 
that  the  subject  will  commend  itself  to,  and  reward, 
the  study  of  every  meditative  mind. 

I  know  not  in  what  better  terms  the  discussion  of 
this  subject  can  be  brought  to  a  termination,  than  in 
those  which  express  the  conclusions  to  which  one  of 
our  own  most  distinguished  citizens  was  brought,  after 
having  examined  the  whole  transaction  with  the  eye  of 
a  lawyer  and  the  spirit  of  a  judge.  The  following  is 
from  the  Centennial  Discourse  pronounced  in  Salem 
on  the  18th  of  September,  1828,  by  the  late  Hon. 
Joseph  Story,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States : — 

“  We  may  lament,  then,”  says  he,  “  the  errors  of 
the  times,  which  led  to  these  prosecutions.  But  surely 
our  ancestors  had  no  special  reasons  for  shame  in  a 
belief  which  had  the  universal  sanction  of  their  own 
and  all  former  ages ;  which  counted  in  its  train  phi¬ 
losophers,  as  well  as  enthusiasts ;  which  was  graced 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


441 


by  the  learning  of  prelates,  as  well  as  by  the  counte¬ 
nance  of  kings ;  which  the  law  supported  by  its  man¬ 
dates,  and  the  purest  judges  felt  no  compunctions  in 
enforcing.  Let  Witch  Hill  remain  for  ever  memorable 
by  this  sad  catastrophe,  not  to  perpetuate  our  dishonor, 
but  as  an  affecting,  enduring  proof  of  human  infirmity ; 
a  proof  that  perfect  justice  belongs  to  one  judgment- 
seat  only,  —  that  which  is  linked  to  the  throne  of 
God.” 

In  the  work  which  has  now  reached  its  close,  many 
strange  phases  of  humanity  have  been  exposed.  We 
have  beheld,  with  astonishment  and  horror,  the  extent 
to  which  it  is  liable  to  be  the  agent  and  victim  of  delu¬ 
sion  and  ruin.  Folly  that  cannot  be  exceeded  ;  wrong, 
outrage,  and  woe,  melting  the  heart  that  contemplates 
them ;  and  crime,  not  within  our  power  or  province 
to  measure,  —  have  passed  before  us.  But  not  the 
dark  side  only  of  our  nature  has  been  displayed. 
Manifestations  of  innocence,  heroism,  invincible  devo¬ 
tion  to  truth,  integrity  of  soul  triumphing  over  all  the 
terrors  and  hs^fbrs  that  can  be  accumulated  in  life 
and  in  death,  Christian  piety  in  its  most  heavenly  radi¬ 
ance,  have  mingled  in  the  drama,  whose  curtain  is  now 
to  fall.  Noble  specimens  of  virtue  in  man  and  woman, 
old  and  young,  have  shed  a  light,  as  from  above,  upon 
its  dark  and  melancholy  scenes.  Not  only  the  suffer¬ 
ers,  but  some  of  those  who  shared  the  dread  respon¬ 
sibility  of  the  crisis,  demand  our  commiseration,  and 
did  what  they  could  to  atone  for  their  error. 

The  conduct  of  Judge  Sewall  claims  our  particu- 


442 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


lar  admiration.  Ho  observed  annually  in  private 
a  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer,  during  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  his  life,  to  keep  fresh  in  his  mind  a  sense 
of  repentance  and  sorrow  for  the  part  he  bore  in 
the  trials.  On  the  day  of  the  general  fast,  he  rose 
in  the  place  where  he  was  accustomed  to  worship,  the 
Old  South,  in  Boston,  and,  in  the  presence  of  the  great 
assembly,  handed  up  to  the  pulpit  a  written  confession, 
acknowledging  the  error  into  which  he  had  been  led, 
praying  for  the  forgiveness  of  God  and  his  people,  and 
concluding  with  a  request  to  all  the  congregation  to 
unite  with  him  in  devout  supplication,  that  it  might 
not  bring  down  the  displeasure  of  the  Most  High 
upon  his  country,  his  family,  or  himself.  He  re¬ 
mained  standing  during  the  public  reading  of  the 
paper.  This  was  an  act  of  true  manliness  and  dignity 
of  soul. 

The  following  passage  is  found  in  his  diary,  under 
the  date  of  April  23,  1720,  nearly  thirty  years  after¬ 
wards.  It  was  suggested  by  the  perusal  of  Neal’s 
“  History  of  New  England  :  ”  — 

“  In  Dr.  Neal’s  1  History  of  New  England,’  its  nakedness 
is  laid  open  in  the  businesses  of  the  Quakers,  Anabaptists, 
witchcraft.  The  judges’  names  are  mentioned  p.  502  ;  my 
confession,  p.  536,  vol.  ii.  The  good  and  gracious  God  be 
pleased  to  save  New  England  and  me,  and  my  family  !  ” 

There  never  was  a  more  striking  and  complete  fulfil¬ 
ment  of  the  apostolic  assurance,  that  the  prayer  of  a 
righteous  man  availetli  much,  than  in  this  instance. 
God  has  been  pleased,  in  a  remarkable  manner,  to 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


443 


save  and  bless  New  England.  The  favor  of  Heaven 
was  bestowed  upon  Judge  Sewall  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  He  presided  for  many  years  on  the  bench 
where  he  committed  the  error  so  sincerely  deplored  by 
him,  and  was  regarded  by  all  as  a  benefactor,  an  orna¬ 
ment,  and  a  blessing  to  the  community :  while  his 
family  have  enjoyed  to  a  high  degree  the  protection 
of  Providence  from  that  day  to  this ;  have  adorned 
every  profession,  and  every  department  of  society  ; 
have  filled  with  honor  the  most  elevated  stations  ; 
have  graced,  in  successive  generations,  the  same  lofty 
seat  their  ancestor  occupied  ;  and  been  the  objects 
of  the  confidence,  respect,  and  love  of  their  fellow- 
citizens. 

Your  thoughts  have  been  led  through  scenes  of  the 
most  distressing  and  revolting  character.  I  leave  be¬ 
fore  your  imaginations  one  bright  with  all  the  beauty 
of  Christian  virtue,  —  that  which  exhibits  Judge  Sewall 
standing  forth  in  the  house  of  his  God  and  in  the 
presence  of  his  fellow-worshippers,  making  a  public 
declaration  of  his  sorrow  and  regret  for  the  mistaken 
judgment  he  had  co-operated  with  others  in  pro¬ 
nouncing.  Here  you  have  a  representation  of  a  truly 
great  and  magnanimous  spirit ;  a  spirit  to  which 
the  divine  influence  of  our  religion  had  given  an  ex¬ 
pansion  and  a  lustre  that  Roman  or  Grecian  virtue 
never  knew ;  a  spirit  that  had  achieved  a  greater  vic¬ 
tory  than  warrior  ever  won,  —  a  victory  over  itself; 
a  spirit  so  noble  and  so  pure,  that  it  felt  no  shame 
in  acknowledging  an  error,  and  publicly  imploring, 


444 


WITCHCRAFT  AT  SALEM  VILLAGE. 


for  a  great  wrong  done  to  his  fellow-creatures,  the 
forgiveness  of  God  and  man. 

Our  Essex  poet,  wdiose  beautiful  genius  has  made 
classical  the  banks  of  his  own  Merrimac,  shed  a 
romantic  light  over  the  early  homes  and  characters 
of  New  England,  and  brought  back  to  life  the  spirit, 
forms,  scenes,  and  men  of  the  past,  has  not  failed  to 
immortalize,  in  his  verse,  the  profound  penitence  of 
the  misguided  but  upright  judge :  — 

“  Touching  and  sad,  a  tale  is  told, 

Like  a  penitent  hymn  of  the  Psalmist  old, 

Of  the  fast  which  the  good  man  life-long  kept 
With  a  haunting  sorrow  that  never  slept, 

As  the  circling  year  brought  round  the  time 
Of  an  error  that  left  the  sting  of  crime, 

When  he  sat  on  the  bench  of  the  witchcraft  courts, 

With  the  laws  of  Moses  and  '  Hale’s  Reports,’ 

And  spake,  in  the  name  of  both,  the  word 
That  gave  the  witch’s  neck  to  the  cord, 

And  piled  the  oaken  planks  that  pressed 
The  feeble  life  from  the  warlock’s  breast ! 

All  the  day  long,  from  dawn  to  dawn, 

His  door  was  bolted,  his  curtain  drawn  ; 

No  foot  on  his  silent  threshold  trod, 

No  eye  looked  on  him  save  that  of  God, 

As  he  baffled  the  ghosts  of  the  dead  with  charms 
Of  penitent  tears,  and  prayers,  and  psalms, 

And,  with  precious  proofs  from  the  sacred  Word 
Of  the  boundless  pity  and  love  of  the  Lord, 

His  faith  confirmed  and  his  trust  renewed, 

That  the  sin  of  his  ignorance,  sorely  rued, 

Might  be  washed  away  in  the  mingled  flood 
Of  his  human  sorrow  and  Christ’s  dear  blood  !  ” 


SUPPLEMEN  T. 


S  U  P  P  L  E  M  E  N  T. 


[The  subject  of  Salem  "Witchcraft  has  been  traced  to  its  conclusion,  and 
discussed  within  its  proper  limits,  in  the  foregoing  work.  But  whoever  is 
interested  in  it  as  a  chapter  of  history  or  an  exhibition  of  humanity  may  feel 
a  curiosity,  on  some  points,  that  reasonably  demands  gratification.  The 
questions  will  naturally  arise,  Who  were  the  earliest  to  extricate  themselves 
and  the  public  from  the  delusion  ?  what  is  known,  beyond  the  facts  mentioned 
in  the  progress  of  the  foregoing  discussion,  of  the  later  fortunes  of  its  promi¬ 
nent  actors?  what  the  view  taken  in  the  retrospect  by  individuals  and  public 
bodies  implicated  in  the  transaction  ?  and  what  opinions  on  the  general  sub¬ 
ject  have  subsequently  prevailed?  To  answer  these  questions  is  the  design 
of  this  Supplement.] 

IT  can  hardly  be  said  that  there  was  any  open  and  avowed  oppo¬ 
sition  in  the  community  to  the  proceedings  during  their  early 
progress.  There  is  some  uncertainty  and  obscurity  to  what  ex¬ 
tent  there  was  an  unexpressed  dissent  in  the  minds  of  particular 
private  persons.  On  the  general  subject  of  the  existence  and 
power  of  the  Devil  and  his  agency,  more  or  less,  in  influencing 
human  and  earthly  affairs,  it  would  be  difficult  to  prove  that  there 
was  any  considerable  difference  of  opinion. 

The  first  undisguised  and  unequivocal  opposition  to  the  pro¬ 
ceedings  was  a  remarkable  document  that  has  recently  come  to 
light.  Among  some  papers  which  have  found  their  way  to  the 
custody  of  the  Essex  Institute,  is  a  letter,  dated  “  Salisbury,  Aug. 
9,  1692,”  addressed  “  To  the  worshipful  Jonathan  Corwin,  Esq., 
these  present  at  his  house  in  Salem.”  It  is  indorsed,  “A  letter 


448 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


to  my  grandfather,  on  account  of  the  condemnation  of  the  witches.” 
Its  date  shows  that  it  was  written  while  the  public  infatuation  and 
fury  were  at  their  height,  and  the  Court  was  sentencing  to  death 
and  sending  to  the  gallows  its  successive  cartloads.  There  k  no 
injunction  of  secresy,  and  no  shrinking  from  responsibility.  Al¬ 
though  the  name  of  the  writer  is  not  given  in  full,  he  was  evidently 
well  known  to  Corwin,  and  had  written  to  him  before  on  the  sub¬ 
ject.  The  messenger,  in  accordance  with  the  superscription,  un¬ 
doubtedly  delivered  it  into  the  hands  of  the  judge  at  his  residence 
on  the  corner  of  Essex  and  North  Streets.  The  fact  that  Jonathan 
Corwin  preserved  this  document,  and  placed  it  in  the  permanent 
fdes  of  his  family  papers,  is  pretty  good  proof  that  he  appreciated 
the  weight  of  its  arguments.  It  is  not  improbable  that  he  expressed 
himself  to  that  effect  to  his  brethren  on  the  bench,  and  perhaps  to 
others.  What  he  said,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  holding  such  a 
correspondence,  may  have  reached  the  ears  of  the  accusers,  and 
led  them  to  commence  a  movement  against  him  by  crying  out  upon 
his  mother-in-law. 

The  letter  is  a  most  able  argument  against  the  manner  in  which 
the  trials  were  conducted,  and,  by  conclusive  logic,  overthrows  the 
whole  fabric  of  the  evidence  on  the  strength  of  which  the  Court 
was  convicting  and  taking  the  lives  of  innocent  persons.  No  such 
piece  of  reasoning  has  come  to  us  from  that  age.  Its  author  must 
be  acknowledged  to  have  been  an  expert  in  dialectic  subtleties,  and 
a  pure  reasoner  of  unsurpassed  acumen  and  force.  It  requires, 
but  it  will  reward,  the  closest  attention  and  concentration  of 
thought  in  following  the  threads  of  the  argument.  It  reaches  its 
conclusions  on  a  most  difficult  subject  with  clearness  and  certainty. 
It  achieves  and  realizes,  in  mere  mental  processes,  quantities,  and 
forces,  on  the  points  at  which  it  aims,  what  is  called  demonstration 
in  mathematics  and  geometry. 

The  writer  does  not  discredit,  but  seems  to  have  received,  the 
then  prevalent  doctrines  relating  to  the  personality,  power,  and 
attributes  of  the  Devil ;  and,  from  that  standpoint,  controverts 
and  demolishes  the  principles  on  which  the  Court  was  proceeding, 
in  reference  to  the  “spectral  evidence”  and  the  credibility  of  the 
“afflicted  children”  generally.  The  letter,  and  the  formal  argu¬ 
ment  appended  to  it,  arrest  notice  in  one  or  two  general  aspects. 
There  is  an  appearance  of  their  having  proceeded  from  an  elderly 


SUPPLEMENT. 


449 


person,  not  at  all  from  any  marks  of  infirmity  of  intellect,  but 
rather  from  an  air  of  wisdom  and  a  tone  of  authority  which  can  only 
result  from  long  experience  and  observation.  The  circumstance 
that  an  amanuensis  was  employed,  and  the  author  writes  the 
initials  of  his  signature  only,  strengthens  this  impression.  At 
the  same  time,  there  are  indications  of  a  free  and  progressive 
spirit,  more  likely  to  have  had  force  at  an  earlier  period  of  life. 
In  some  aspects,  the  document  indicates  a  theological  education, 
and  familiarity  with  matters  that  belong  to  the  studies  of  a  minis¬ 
ter  ;  in  others,  it  manifests  habits  of  mind  and  modes  of  expression 
and  reasoning  more  natural  to  one  accustomed  to  close  legal  state¬ 
ments  and  deductions.  If  the  production  of  a  trained  professional 
man  of  either  class,  it  would  justly  be  regarded  as  remarkable. 
If  its  author  belonged  to  neither  class,  but  was  merely  a  local  magis¬ 
trate,  farmer,  and  militia  officer,  it  becomes  more  than  remarkable. 
There  must  have,  been  a  high  development  among  the  founders  of 
our  villages,  when  the  laity  could  present  examples  of  such  a  ca¬ 
pacity  to  grasp  the  most  difficult  subjects,  and  conduct  such  acute 
and  abstruse  disquisitions.  [See  Appendix.] 

The  question  as  to  the  authorship  of  this  paper  may  well  excite 
interest,  involving,  as  it  does,  minute  critical  speculations.  The 
elements  that  enter  into  its  solution  illustrate  the  difficulties  and 
perplexities  encompassing  the  study  of  local  antiquities,  and  at¬ 
tempts  to  determine  the  origin  and  bearings  of  old  documents  or  to 
settle  minute  points  of  history.  The  weight  of  evidence  seems  to 
indicate  that  the  document  is  attributable  to  Major  Robert  Pike,  of 
Salisbury.  Whoever  was  its  author  did  his  duty  nobly,  and  stands 
alone,  above  all  the  scholars  and  educated  men  of  the  time,  in  bear¬ 
ing  testimony  openly,  bravely,  in  the  very  ears  of  the  Court,  against 
the  disgraceful  and  shocking  course  they  were  pursuing.* 

*  The  facts  and  considerations  in  reference  to  the  authorship  of  the  letter 
to  Jonathan  Corwin  may  be  summarily  stated  as  follows:  — 

The  letter  is  signed  “  E.  P.”  Under  these  initials  is  written,  “Robert 
Pain,”  in  a  different  hand,  and,  as  the  ink  as  well  as  the  chirography  shows, 
at  a  somewhat  later  date.  R.  P.  are  blotted  over,  but  with  ink  of  such 
lighter  hue  that  the  original  letters  are  clearly  discernible  under  it.  A  Rob¬ 
ert  Paine  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  in  1G56.  But  he  was  probably  the 
foreman  of  the  grand  jury  that  brought  in  all  the  indictments  in  the  witch¬ 
craft  trials;  and  therefore  could  not,  from  the  declarations  in  the  letter  itself, 
have  been  its  author.  The  only  other  person  of  that  name  at  the  time,  of 
vol.  ii.  29 


450 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


William  Brattle,  an  eminent  citizen  and  opulent  merchant  of 
Boston,  and  a  gentleman  of  education  and  uncommon  abilities, 
wrote  a  letter  to  an  unknown  correspondent  of  the  clerical  profes- 

whom  we  have  knowledge,  was  his  father,  who  seems,  by  the  evidence  we 
have,  to  have  died  in  1693.  (That  date  is  given  in  the  Harvard  Triennial  for 
the  death  of  Robert  Paine,  the  graduate;  but  erroneously,  I  think,  as  signa¬ 
tures  to  documents,  and  conveyances  of  property  subsequently,  can  hardly  he 
ascribed  to  any  other  person.)  Robert  Paine,  the  father,  from  the  earliest  set¬ 
tlement  of  Ipswich,  had  been  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  town,  apparently 
of  larger  property  than  any  other,  often  its  deputy  in  the  General  Court,  and, 
for  a  great  length  of  time,  ruling  elder  of  the  church.  “  Elder  Pain,”  or  Penn, 
as  the  name  was  often  spelled,  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  John  Norton,  and 
all  the  ministers  far  and  near;  and  religious  meetings  were  often  held  at  his 
house.  We  know  nothing  to  justify  us  in  saying  that  he  could  not  have  been 
the  author  of  this  paper ;  but  we  also  know  nothing,  except  the  appearance 
of  his  name  upon  it,  to  impute  it  to  him. 

The  document  is  dated  from  “  Salisbury.”  So  far  as  we  know,  Elder  Paine 
always  lived  in  Ipswich ;  although,  having  property  in  the  upper  county,  he 
may  have  often  been,  and  possibly  in  his  last  years  resided,  there.  It  is,  it  is 
true,  a  strong  circumstance,  that  his  name  is  written,  although  by  a  late  hand, 
under  the  initials.  It  shows  that  the  person  who  wrote  it  thought  that  “  R.  P.” 
meant  Robert  Paine ;  but  any  one  conversant  especially  whth  the  antiquities  of 
Ipswich,  or  this  part  of  the  county,  might  naturally  fall  into  such  a  mistake. 
The  authorship  of  documents  was  often  erroneously  ascribed.  The  words 
“  Robert  Pain  ”  were,  probably,  not  on  the  paper  when  the  indorsement  was 
made,  “A  letter  to  my  grandfather,”  &c.  Elder  Robert  Paine,  if  living  in  1692, 
was  nmety-one  years  of  age.  The  document  under  consideration,  if  com¬ 
posed  by  him,  is  truly  a  marvellous  production,  —  an  intellectual  phenomenon 
not  easily  to  be  paralleled. 

The  facts  in  reference  to  Robert  Pike,  of  Salisbury,  as  they  bear  upon  the 
question  of  the  authorship  of  the  document,  are  these:  He  was  seventy-six 
years  of  age  in  1692,  and  had  always  resided  in  “  Salisbury.”  The  letter  and 
argument  are  both  in  the  handwriting  of  Captain  Thomas  Bradbury,  Recorder 
of  old  Norfolk  County.  On  this  point,  there  can  be  no  question.  Bradbury 
and  Pike  had  been  fellow-towmsmen  for  more  than  half  a  century,  connected 
by  all  the  ties  of  neighborhood  and  family  intermarriage,  and  jointly  or  alter¬ 
nately  had  borne  all  the  civic  and  military  honors  the  people  could  bestow. 
The  document  was  prepared  and  delivered  to  the  judge  while  Mrs.  Bradbury 
was  in  prison,  and  just  one  month  before  her  trial.  Pike,  as  has  been  shown 
(p.226),  was  deeply  interested  in  her  behalf.  The  original  signature  (“  R.  P.”) 
has  the  marked  characteristics  of  the  same  initial  letters  as  found  in  innu¬ 
merable  autographs  of  his,  on  file  or  record.  There  are  interlineations,  be¬ 
yond  question  in  Pike’s  handwriting.  These  facts  demonstrate  that  both 
Pike  and  Bradbury  -were  concerned  in  producing  the  document. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


451 


sion,  in  October,  1692.  It  is  an  able  criticism  upon  the  methods  of 
procedure  at  the  trials,  condemning  them  in  the  strongest  lan¬ 
guage  ;  but  it  was  a  confidential  communication,  and  not  published 

Tlie  history  of  Robert  Pike  proves  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  ability,  had 
a  turn  of  mind  towards  logical  exercises,  and  was,  from  early  life,  conver¬ 
sant  with  disputations.  Nearly  fifty  years  before,  he  argued  in  town-meeting 
against  the  propriety,  in  view  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  law,  of  certain  acts 
of  the  General  Court.  They  arraigned,  disfranchised,  and  otherwise  punished 
him  for  his  “litigiousness:”  but  the  weight  of  his  character  soon  compelled 
them  to  restore  his  political  rights;  and  the  people  of  Salisbury,  the  very  next 
year,  sent  him  among  them  as  their  deputy,  and  continued  him  from  time  to 
time  in  that  capacity.  At  a  subsequent  period,  he  was  the  leader  and  spokes¬ 
man  of  a  party  in  a  controversy  about  some  ecclesiastical  affairs,  involving 
apparently  certain  nice  questions  of  theology,  which  created  a  great  stir  through 
the  country.  The  contest  reached  so  high  a  point,  that  the  church  at  Salis¬ 
bury  excommunicated  him ;  but  the  public  voice  demanded  a  council  of 
churches,  which  assembled  in  September,  1676,  and  re-instated  Major  Pike, 
condemning  his  excommunication,  “  finding  it  not  justifiable  upon  divers 
grounds.”  On  this  occasion,  as  before,  the  General  Court  frowned  upon  and 
denounced  him;  but  the  people  came  again  to  his  rescue,  sending  him  at  the 
next  election  into  the  House  of  Deputies,  and  kept  him  there  until  raised  to 
the  Upper  House  as  an  Assistant.  He  was  in  the  practice  of  conducting  causes 
in  the  courts,  and  was  long  a  local  magistrate  and  one  of  the  county 
judges. 

He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  present  at  any  of  the  trials  or  examina¬ 
tions  of  1692 ;  but  his  official  position  as  Assistant  caused  many  depositions 
taken  in  his  neighborhood  to  be  acknowledged  and  sworn  before  him.  While 
entertaining  the  prevalent  views  about  diabolical  agency,  he  always  disap¬ 
proved  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Court  in  the  particulars  to  which  the  argu¬ 
ments  of  the  communication  to  Jonathan  Corwin  apply,  —  the  “spectre 
evidence,”  —  and  the  statements  and  actings  of  “the  afflicted  children.” 
There  are  indications  that  sometimes  he  saw  through  the  folly  of  the  stories 
told  by  persons  whose  depositions  he  was  called  to  attest.  One  John  Pressy 
was  circulating  a  wonderful  tale  about  an  encounter  he  had  with  the  spectre 
of  Susanna  Martin.  Pike  sent  for  him,  and  took  his  deposition.  Pressy 
averred,  that,  one  evening,  coming  from  Amesburv  Ferry,  he  fell  in  with  the 
shape  of  Martin  in  the  form  of  a  body  of  light,  which  “  seemed  to  be  about 
the  bigness  of  a  half-bushel.”  After  much  dodging  and  manoeuvring,  and 
being  lost  and  bewildered,  wandering  to  and  fro,  tumbling  into  holes,  —  where, 
as  the  deposition  states,  no  “such  pitts”  were  known  to  exist,  —  and  other 
misadventures,  he  came  to  blows  with  the  light,  and  had  severa'  brushes  with 
it,  striking  it  with  his  stick.  At  one  time,  “  he  thinks  he  gave  her  m  1  ast 
forty  blows.”  He  finally  succeeded  in  finding  “his  own  house:  but,  being 
then  seized  with  fear,  could  not  speak  till  his  wife  spoke  to  him  at  the  door, 


452 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


until  many  years  afterwards.  He  says  that  “  the  witches’  meetings, 
the  Devil’s  baptisms  and  mock  sacraments,  which  the  accusing  and 
confessing  witches  oft  speak  of,  are  nothing  else  but  the  effect  of 
their  fancy,  depraved  and  deluded  by  the  Devil,  and  not  a  reality 
to  be  regarded  or  minded  by  any  wise  man.”  He  charges  the  judges 
with  having  taken  testimony  from  the  Devil  himself,  through  wit¬ 
nesses  who  swore  to  what  they  said  the  Devil  communicated 
to  them,  thus  indirectly  introducing  the  Devil  as  a  witness ; 
and  he  clinches  the  accusation  by  quoting  the  judges  themselves, 
who,  when  the  accusing  and  confessing  witnesses  contradicted  each 
other,  got  over  the  difficulty  by  saying  that  the  Devil,  in  such  in¬ 
stances,  took  away  the  memory  of  some  of  them,  for  the  moment, 
obscuring  their  brains,  and  misleading  them.  He  sums  up  this  part 
of  his  reasoning  in  these  words:  “If  it  be  thus  granted  that  the 
Devil  is  able  to  represent  false  ideas  to  the  imaginations  of  the  con¬ 
fessors,  what  man  of  sense  will  regard  the  confessions,  or  any  of  the 
words  of  these  confessors  ?  ”  He  says  that  he  knows  several  per¬ 
sons  “about  the  Bay,”  —  men,  for  understanding,  judgment,  and 
piety,  inferior  to  few,  if  any,  in  New  England,  —  that  do  utterly 
condemn  the  said  proceedings.  He  repudiates  the  idea  that  Salem 
was,  in  any  sense,  exclusively  responsible  for  the  transaction  ;  and 
affirms  that  “  other  justices  in  the  country,  besides  the  Salem  jus- 

and  was  in  such  a  condition  that  the  family  was  afraid  of  him ;  which  story 
being  carried  to  the  town  the  next  day,  it  was,  upon  inquiry,  understood,  that 
said  Goodwife  Martin  was  in  such  a  miserable  case  and  in  such  pain  that  they 
swabbed  her  body,  as  was  reported.”  He  concludes  his  deposition  by  saying, 
that  Major  Pike  “  seemed  to  be  troubled  that  this  deponent  had  not  told  him 
of  it  in  season  that  she  might  have  been  viewed  to  have  seen  what  her  ail 
was.”  The  affair  had  happened  “  about  twenty-four  years  ago.”  Probably 
neither  Pressy  nor  the  Court  appreciated  the  keenness  of  the  major’s  expres¬ 
sion  of  regret.  It  broke  the  bubble  of  the  deposition.  The  whole  story  was 
the  product  of  a  benighted  imagination,  disordered  by  fear,  filled  with  inebri¬ 
ate  vagaries,  exaggerated  in  nightmare,  and  resting  upon  wild  and  empty 
rumors.  Robert  Pike’s  course,  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Bradbury,  harmonizes  with 
the  supposition  that  he  was  Corwin’s  correspondent. 

Materials  may  be  brought  to  light  that  will  change  the  evidence  on  the 
point.  It  may  be  found  that  Elder  Paine  died  before  1(592  :  that  would  dispose 
of  the  question.  It  may  appear  that  he  was  living  in  Salisbury  at  the  time, 
and  acted  with  Pike  and  Bradbury,  they  giving  to  the  paper  the  authority  of 
his  venerable  name  and  years.  But  all  that  is  now  known,  constrains  me  to 
the  conclusion  stated  in  the  text. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


453 


tires,  have  issued  out  their  warrants  ;  ”  and  states,  that,  of  the  eight 
“judges,  commissioned  for  this  Court  at  Salem,  five  do  belong  to 
Suffolk  County,  four  of  which  five  do  belong  to  Boston,  and  there¬ 
fore  I  see  no  reason  why  Boston  should  talk  of  Salem  as  though 
their  own  judges  had  had  no  hand  in  these  proceedings  in  Sa¬ 
lem.” 

There  is  one  view  of  the  subject,  upon  which  Brattle  presses 
with  much  force  and  severity.  There  is  ground  to  suspect,  that  the ' 
proceedings  were  suffered  to  go  on  after  some  of  those  appearing 
to  countenance  them  had  ceased  to  have  faith  in  the  accusations. 
He  charges,  directly,  complicity  in  the  escape  of  Mrs.  Carey,  Mrs. 
English,  Captain  Alden,  Hezekiah  Usher,  and  others,  upon  the 
high  officials ;  and  says  that  while  the  evidence,  upon  which  so 
many  had  been  imprisoned,  sentenced,  and  executed,  bore  against 
Mrs.  Thacher,  of  Boston,  she  was  never  proceeded  against.  “  She 
was  much  complained  of  by  the  afflicted  persons,  and  yet  the 
justices  would  not  issue  out  their  warrants  to  apprehend”  her  and 
certain  others  ;  while  at  the  very  same  time  they  were  issuing,  upon 
no  better  or  other  grounds,  warrants  against  so  many  others.  He 
charges  the  judges  with  this  most  criminal  favoritism.  The  facts 
hardly  justify  such  an  imputation  upon  the  judges.  They  did  not, 
after  the  trials  had  begun,  it  is  probable,  ever  issue  warrants  : 
that  was  the  function  of  magistrates.  With  the  exception,  per¬ 
haps,  of  Corwin,  I  think  there  is  no  evidence  of  there  having  been 
any  doubts  or  misgivings  on  the  bench.  It  is  altogether  too  heavy 
a  charge  to  bring,  without  the  strongest  evidence,  upon  any  one. 
To  intimate  that  officials,  or  any  persons,  who  did  not  believe  in 
the  accusations,  connived  at  the  escape  of  their  friends  and  rela¬ 
tives,  and  at  the  same  time  countenanced,  pretended  to  believe, 
and  gave  deadly  effect  to  them  when  directed  against  others,  is 
supposing  a  criminality  and  baseness  too  great  to  be  readily  ad¬ 
mitted.  In  that  wild  reign  of  the  worst  of  passions,  this  would 
have  transcended  them  all  in  its  iniquity.  The  only  excusable 
people  at  that  time  were  those  who  honestly,  and  without  a  doubt, 
believed  in  the  guilt  of  the  convicted.  Those  who  had  doubts, 
and  did  not  frankly  and  fearlessly  express  them,  were  the  guilty 
ones.  On  their  hands  is  the  stain  of  the  innocent  blood  that  was 
shed.  It  is  not  probable,  and  is  scarcely  possible,  that  any  consid¬ 
erable  number  could  be  at  once  doubters  and  prosecutors.  On  this 


454 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


point,  Brattle  must  be  understood  to  mean,  not  that  judges,  or 
others  actively  engaged  in  the  prosecutions,  warded  off  proceed¬ 
ings  against  particular  friends  or  relatives  from  a  principle  of 
deliberate  favoritism,  but  that  third  parties,  actuated  by  a  syco¬ 
phantic  spirit,  endeavored  to  hush  up  or  intercept  complaints, 
when  directed  too  near  to  the  high  officials,  or  thought  to  gain 
their  favor  by  aiding  the  escape  of  persons  in  whom  they  were 
interested. 

Brattle  uses  the  same  weapon  which  afterwards  the  opponents 
of  Mr.  Parris,  in  his  church  at  Salem  Village,  wielded  with  such 
decisive  effect  against  him  and  all  who  abetted  him.  It  is  much 
to  be  lamented,  that,  instead  of  hiding  it  under  a  confidential  letter, 
he  did  not  at  the  time  openly  bring  it  to  bear  in  the  most  public 
and  defiant  manner.  One  brave,  strong  voice,  uttered  in  the  face 
of  the  court  and  in  the  congregations  of  the  people,  echoed  from 
the  corners  of  the  streets,  and  reaching  the  ears  of  the  governor 
and  magistrates,  denouncing  the  entire  proceedings  as  the  dam¬ 
nable  crime  of  familiarity  with  evil  spirits,  and  sorcery  of  the 
blackest  dye,  might  perhaps  have  recalled  the  judges,  the  people, 
and  the  rulers  to  their  senses.  If  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  prophets 
of  God,  of  the  Quakers  of  the  preceding  age,  or  of  true  reform¬ 
ers  of  any  age,  had  existed  in  any  breast,  the  experiment  would 
have  been  tried.  Brattle  says,  — 

“  I  cannot  but  admire  that  any  should  go  with  their  distempered 
friends  and  relations  to  the  afflicted  children,  to  know  what  their  dis¬ 
tempered  friends  ail,  whether  they  are  not  bewitched,  who  it  is  that 
afflicts  them,  and  the  like.  It  is  true,  I  know  no  reason  why  these 
afflicted  may  not  he  consulted  as  well  as  any  other,  if  so  be  that  it  was 
only  their  natural  and  ordinary  knowledge  that  was  had  recourse  to : 
but  it  is  not  on  this  notion  that  these  afflicted  children  are  sought  unto, 
but  as  they  have  a  supernatural  knowledge  ;  a  knowledge  which  they 
obtain  by  their  holding  correspondence  with  spectres  or  evil  spirits,  as 
they  themselves  grant.  This  consulting  of  these  afflicted  children, 
as  abovesaid,  seems  to  me  to  be  a  very  gross  evil,  a  real  abomination, 
not  fit  to  be  known  in  New  England ;  and  yet  is  a  thing  practised,  not 
only  by  Tom  and  John,  —  I  mean  the  rude  and  more  ignorant  sort, — 
but  by  many  who  profess  high,  and  pass  among  us  for  some  of  the 
better  sort.  This  is  that  which  aggravates  the  evil,  and  makes  it 
heinous  and  tremendous  ;  and  yet  this  is  not  the  worst  of  it,  —  for,  as 


SUPPLEMENT. 


455 


sure  as  I  now  write  to  you,  even  some  of  our  civil  leaders  and  spiritual 
teachers,  who,  I  think,  should  punish  and  preach  down  such  sorcery 
and  wickedness,  do  yet  allow  of,  encourage,  yea,  and  practise,  this 
very  abomination.  I  know  there  are  several  worthy  gentlemen  in 
Salem  who  account  this  practice  as  an  abomination,  have  trembled  to 
see  the  methods  of  this  nature  which  others  have  used,  and  have  de¬ 
clared  themselves  to  think  the  practice  to  he  very  evil  and  corrupt. 
But  all  avails  little  with  the  abettors  of  the  said  practice.” 

If  Mr.  Brattle  and  the  “several  worthy  gentlemen”  to  whom 
he  alludes,  instead  of  sitting  in  “trembling”  silence,  or  whisper¬ 
ing  in  private  their  disapprobation,  or  writing  letters  under  the  in¬ 
junction  of  secrecy,  had  come  boldly  out,  and  denounced  the  whole 
thing,  in  a  spirit  of  true  courage,  meeting  and  defying  the  risk, 
and  carrying  the  war  home,  and  promptly,  upon  the  ministers, 
magistrates,  and  judges,  they  might  have  succeeded,  and  exploded 
the  delusion  before  it  had  reached  its  fatal  results. 

lie  mentions,  in  the  course  of  his  letter,  among  those  persons 
known  by  him  to  disapprove  of  the  proceedings,  — 

“The  Hon.  Simon  Bradstreet,  Esq.  (our  late  governor),  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Danforth,  Esq.  (our  late  deputy -governor),  the  Bev.  Mr. 
Increase  Mather,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Willard.  Major  N.  Sal- 
tonstall,  Esq.,  who  was  one  of  the  judges,  has  left  the  court,  and  is 
very  much  dissatisfied  with  the  proceedings  of  it.  Excepting  Mr. 
Hale,  Mr.  Noyes,  and  Mr.  Farris,  the  reverend  elders,  almost  through¬ 
out  the  whole  country,  are  very  much  dissatisfied.  Several  of  the 
late  justices  —  viz.,  Thomas  Graves,  Esq.;  N.  Byfield,  Esq.;  Francis 
Foxcroft,  Esq. — are  much  dissatisfied;  also  several  of  the  present 
justices,  and,  in  particular,  some  of  the  Boston  justices,  were  resolved 
rather  to  throw  up  their  commissions  than  be  active  in  disturbing  the 
liberty  of  Their  Majesties’  subjects  merely  on  the  accusations  of  these 
afflicted,  possessed  children.” 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  dissatisfaction  was  with  some  of 
the  methods  adopted  in  the  proceedings,  and  not,  with  the  prosecu¬ 
tions  themselves.  Increase  Mather  and  Samuel  Willard  signed 
the  paper  indorsing  Deodat  Lawson’s  famous  sermon,  which  surely 
drove  on  the  prosecutions ;  and  the  former  expressed,  in  print, 
his  approbation  of  his  son  Cotton’s  “Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
V  rorld,”  in  which  he  labors  to  defend  the  witchcraft  prosecutions, 
and  to  make  it  out  that  those  who  suffered  were  “malefactors.” 


456 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


Dr.  Increase  Mather  is  understood  to  have  countenanced  the 
burning  of  Calef’s  book,  some  few  years  afterwards,  in  the  square 
of  the  public  grounds  of  Harvard  College,  of  which  institution  he 
was  then  president.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  however,  that  both  the 
elder  Mather  and  Mr.  Willard  had  expressed,  more  or  less  dis¬ 
tinctly,  their  disapprobation  of  some  of  the  details  of  the  proceed¬ 
ings.  It  is  honorable  to  their  memories,  and  shows  that  the  former 
was  not  wholly  blinded  by  parental  weakness,  but  willing  to  ex¬ 
press  his  dissent,  in  some  particulars,  from  the  course  of  his 
distinguished  son,  and  that  the  latter  had  an  independence  of 
character,  which  enabled  him  to  criticise  and  censure  a  court  in 
which  three  of  his  parishioners  sat  as  judges. 

Brattle  relates  a  story  which  seems  to  indicate  that  Increase 
Mather  sometimes  was  unguarded  enough  to  express  himself  with 
severity  against  those  who  gave  countenance  to  the  proceedings. 
“  A  person  from  Boston,  of  no  small  note,  carried  up  his  child 
to  Salem,  near  twenty  miles,  on  purpose  that  he  might  consult  the 
afflicted  about  his  child,  which  accordingly  he  did  ;  and  the  afflicted 
told  him  that  liis  child  was  afflicted  by  Mrs.  Carey  and  Mrs.  Obin- 
son.”  The  “  afflicted,”  in  this  and  some  other  instances,  had  struck 
too  high.  The  magistrates  in  Boston  were  unwilling  to  issue  a 
warrant  against  Mrs.  Obinson,  and  Mrs.  Carey  had  fled.  All 
that  the  man  got  for  his  pains,  in  carrying  his  child  to  Salem,  was 
a  hearty  scolding  from  Increase  Mather,  who  asked  him  “whether 
there  was  not  a  God  in  Boston,  that  he  should  go  to  the  Devil,  in 
Salem,  for  advice.” 

Bradstreet’s  great  age  prevented,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  his 
public  appearance  in  the  affair ;  but  his  course  in  a  case  which 
occurred  twelve  years  before  fully  justifies  confidence  in  the 
statement  of  Brattle.  The  tradition  has  always  prevailed,  that 
he  looked  with  disapprobation  upon  the  proceedings,  from  be¬ 
ginning  to  end.  The  course  of  his  sons,  and  the  action  taken 
against  them,  is  quite  decisive  to  the  point. 

Facts  have  been  stated,  which  show  that  Thomas  Danforth,  if 
he  disapproved  of  the  proceedings  at  Salem,  in  October,  must 
have  undergone  a  rapid  change  of  sentiments.  No  irregularities, 
improprieties,  extravagances,  or  absurdities  ever  occurred  in  the 
examinations  or  trials  greater  than  he  was  fully  responsible  for  in 
April.  Having,  in  the  mean  while,  been  superseded  in  office,  he 


SUPPLEMENT. 


457 


had  leisure,  in  his  retirement,  to  think  over  the  whole  matter ; 
and  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  he  saw  the  error  of  the  ways  in 
which  he  had  gone  himself,  and  led  others. 

The  result  of  the  inquiry  on  this  point  is,  that,  while  some,  out¬ 
side  of  the  village,  began  early  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  the 
proceedings  in  certain  particulars,  they  failed,  with  the  single  ex¬ 
ception  of  Robert  Tike,  to  make  manly  and  seasonable  resistance. 
He  remonstrated  in  a  writing  signed  with  his  own  initials,  and 
while  the  executions  were  going  on.  lie  sent  it  to  one  of  the 
judges,  and  did  not  shrink  from  having  his  action  known.  No 
other  voice  was  raised,  no  one  else  breasted  the  storm,  while  it 
lasted.  The  errors  which  led  to  the  delusion  were  not  attacked 
from  any  quarter  at  any  time  during  that  generation,  and  have 
remained  lurking  in  many  minds,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to 
our  day. 

There  were,  however,  three  persons  in  Salem  Village  and  its 
immediate  vicinity,  who  deserve  to  be  for  ever  remembered  in 
this  connection.  They  resisted  the  fanaticism  at  the  beginning, 
and  defied  its  wrath.  Joseph  Putnam  was  a  little  more  than 
twenty-two  years  of  age.  He  probably  did  not  enter  into  the 
question  of  the  doctrines  then  maintained  on  such  subjects,  but 
was  led  by  his  natural  sagacity  and  independent  spirit  to  the 
course  he  took.  In  opposition  to  both  his  brothers  and  both  his 
uncles,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  powerful  and  extensive  family,  he 
denounced  the  proceedings  through  and  through.  At  the  very 
moment  when  the  excitement  was  at  its  most  terrible  stage,  and 
Mr.  Parris  held  the  life  of  every  one  in  his  hands,  Joseph  Putnam 
expressed  his  disapprobation  of  his  conduct  by  carrying  his  infant 
child  to  the  church  in  Salem  to  be  baptized.  This  was  a  public 
and  most  significant  act.  For  six  months,  he  kept  some  one  of 
his  horses  under  saddle  night  and  day,  without  a  moment’s  in¬ 
termission  of  the  precaution  ;  and  he  and  his  family  were  constantly 
armed.  It  was  understood,  that,  if  any  one  attempted  to  arrest 
him,  it  would  be  at  the  peril  of  life.  If  the  marshal  should  ap¬ 
proach  with  overwhelming  force,  he  would  spring  to  his  saddle, 
and  bid  defiance  to  pursuit.  Such  a  course  as  this,  taken  by  one 
standing  alone  against  the  whole  community  to  which  he  belonged, 
shows  a  degree  of  courage,  spirit,  and  resolution,  which  cannot  but 
be  held  in  honor. 


458 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


Martha  Corey  was  an  aged  Christian  professor,  of  eminently 
devout  habits  and  principles.  It  is,  indeed,  a  strange  fact,  that, 
in  her  humble  home,  surrounded,  as  it  then  was,  by  a  wilderness, 
this  husbandman’s  wife  should  have  reached  a  height  so  above  and 
beyond  her  age.  But  it  is  proved  conclusively  by  the  depositions 
adduced  against  her,  that  her  mind  was  wholly  disenthralled  from 
the  errors  of  that  period.  She  utterly  repudiated  the  doctrines  of 
witchcraft,  and  expressed  herself  freely  and  fearlessly  against 
them.  The  prayer  which  this  woman  made  “upon  the  ladder,” 
and  which  produced  such  an  impression  on  those  who  heard  it,  was 
undoubtedly  expressive  of  enlightened  piety,  worthy  of  being  char¬ 
acterized  as  “  eminent”  in  its  sentiments,  and  in  its  demonstration 
of  an  innocent  heart  and  life. 

The  following  paper,  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Parris,  is  among 
the  court-files.  It  has  not  the  ordinary  form  of  a  deposition,  but 
somehow  was  sworn  to  in  Court :  — 

“  The  morning  after  the  examination  of  Goody  Nurse,  Sam.  Sibley 
met  John  Procter  about  Mr.  Phillips’s,  who  called  to  said  Sibley  as  he 
was  going  to  said  Phillips’s,  and  asked  how  the  folks  did  at  the  village. 
He  answered,  he  heard  they  were  very  bad  last  night,  but  he  had  heard 
nothing  this  morning.  Procter  replied,  he  was  going  to  fetch  home  his 
jade ;  he  left  her  there  last  night,  and  had  rather  given  forty  shillings 
than  let  her  come  up.  Said  Sibley  asked  why  he  talked  so.  Procter 
replied,  if  they  were  let  alone  so,  we  should  all  be  devils  and  witches 
quickly ;  they  should  rather  be  had  to  the  whipping-post ;  but  he  would 
fetch  his  jade  home,  and  thrash  the  Devil  out  of  her,  —  and  more  to  the 
like  purpose,  crying,  ‘  Hang  them  !  hang  them  !  ’  ” 

In  another  document,  it  is  stated  that  Nathaniel  Ingersoll  and 
others  heard  John  Procter  tell  Joseph  Pope,  “  that,  if  he  had  John 
Indian  in  his  custody,  he  would  soon  beat  the  Devil  out  of  him.” 

The  declarations  thus  ascribed  to  John  Procter  show  that  his 
views  of  the  subject  were  about  right ;  and  it  will  probably  be  gene¬ 
rally  conceded,  that  the  treatment  he  proposed  for  Mary  Warren 
and  “John  Indian,”  if  dealt  out  to  the  “  afflicted  children”  gen¬ 
erally  at  the  outset,  would  have  prevented  all  the  mischief.  A 
sound  thrashing  all  round,  seasonably  administered,  would  have 
reached  the  root  of  the  matter ;  and  the  story  which  has  now  been 
concluded  of  Salem  Avitchcraft  would  never  have  been  told. 

When  the  Avitchcraft  tornado  burst  upon  Andover,  it  prostrated 


SUPPLEMENT. 


459 


every  tiling  before  it.  Accusers  and  accused  were  counted  by 
scores,  and  under  the  panic  of  the  hour  the  accused  generally 
confessed.  But  Andover  was  the  first  to  recover  its  senses.  On 
the  12th  of  October,  1G92,  seven  of  its  citizens  addressed  a  memo¬ 
rial  to  the  General  Court  in  behalf  of  their  wives  and  children, 
praying  that  they  might  be  released  on  bond,  “to  remain  as 
prisoners  in  their  own  houses,  where  they  may  be  more  tenderly 
cared  for.”  They  speak  of  their  “  distressed  condition  in  prison, 
—  a  company  of  poor  distressed  creatures  as  full  of  inward  grief 
and  trouble  as  they  are  able  to  bear  up  in  life  withal.”  They 
refer  to  the  want  of  “  food  convenient”  for  them,  and  to  “  the  cold¬ 
ness  of  the  winter  season  that  is  coming  which  may  despatch  such 
out  of  the  way  that  have  not  been  used  to  such  hardships,”  and 
represent  the  ruinous  effects  of  their  absence  from  their  families, 
who  were  at  the  same  time  required  to  maintain  them  in  jail.  On 
the  18th  of  October,  the  two  ministers  of  Andover,  Francis  Dane 
and  Thomas  Barnard,  with  twenty-four  other  citizens  of  Andover, 
addressed  a  similar  memorial  to  the  Governor  and  General  Court, 
in  which  we  find  the  first  public  expression  of  condemnation  of 
the  proceedings.  They  call  the  accusers  “  distempered  persons.” 
They  express  the  opinion  that  their  friends  and  neighbors  have 
been  misrepresented.  They  bear  the  strongest  testimony  in  favor 
of  the  persons  accused,  that  several  of  them  are  members  of  the 
church  in  full  communion,  of  blameless  conversation,  and  “walk¬ 
ing  as  becometh  women  professing  godliness.”  They  relate  the 
methods  by  which  they  had  been  deluded  and  terrified  into  con¬ 
fession,  and  show  the  worthlessness  of  those  confessions  as  evi¬ 
dences  against  them.  They  use  this  bold  and  significant  language  : 
“  Our  troubles  we  foresee  are  likely  to  continue  and  increase,  if 
other  methods  be  not  taken  than  as  yet  have  been  ;  and  we  know 
not  who  can  think  himself  safe,  if  the  accusations  of  children  and 
others  who  are  under  a  diabolical  influence  shall  be  received 
against  persons  of  good  fame.”  On  the  2d  of  January,  1693, 
the  Rev.  Francis  Dane  addressed  a  letter  to  a  brother  clergyman, 
which  is  among  the  files,  and  was  probably  designed  to  reach  the 
eyes  of  the  Court,  in  which  he  vindicates  Andover  against  the 
scandalous  reports  got  up  by  the  accusers,  and  says  that  a  resi¬ 
dence  there  of  forty-four  years,  and  intimacy  with  the  people, 
enable  him  to  declare  that  they  are  not  justly  chargeable  with  any 


460 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


such  things  as  witchcraft,  charms,  or  sorceries  of  any  kind.  He 
expresses  himself  in  strong  language:  “Had  charity  been  put 
on,  the  Devil  would  not  have  had  such  an  advantage  against  us; 
and  I  believe  many  innocent  persons  have  been  accused  and 
imprisoned.”  He  denounces  “the  conceit  of  spectre  evidence,” 
and  warns  against  continuing  in  a  course  of  proceeding  that  will 
procure  “the  divine  displeasure.”  A  paper  signed  by  Dudley 
Bradstreet,  Francis  Dane,  Thomas  Barnard,  and  thirty-eight  other 
men  and  twelve  women  of  Andover,  was  presented  to  the  Court 
at  Salem  to  the  same  effect. 

None  of  the  persons  named  by  Brattle  can  present  so  strong  a 
claim  to  the  credit  of  having  opposed  the  witchcraft  fanaticism 
before  the  close  of  the  year  1692,  as  Francis  Dane,  his  colleague 
Barnard,  and  the  citizens  of  Andover,  who  signed  memorials  to  the 
Legislature  on  the  18th  of  October,  and  to  the  Court  of  Trials  about 
the  same  time.  There  is,  indeed,  one  conclusive  proof  that  the 
venerable  senior  pastor  of  the  Andover  Church  made  his  disappro¬ 
bation  of  the  witchcraft  proceedings  known  at  an  earlier  period, 
at  least  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  The  wrath  of  the  ac- 

O 

cusers  was  concentrated  upon  him  to  an  unparalleled  extent  from 
their  entrance  into  Andover.  They  did  not  venture  to  attack  him 
directly.  His  venerable  age  and  commanding  position  made  it 
inexpedient ;  but  they  struck  as  near  him,  and  at  as  many  points, 
as  they  dared.  They  accused,  imprisoned,  and  caused  to  be  con¬ 
victed  and  sentenced  to  death,  one  of  his  daughters,  Abigail 
Faulkner.  They  accused,  imprisoned,  and  brought  to  trial  another, 
Elizabeth  Johnson.  They  imprisoned,  and  brought  to  the  sentence 
of  death,  his  grand-daughter,  Elizabeth  Johnson,  Jr.  They  cried 
out  against,  and  caused  to  be  imprisoned,  several  others  of  his 
grandchildren.  They  accused  and  imprisoned  Deliverance  the 
wife,  and  also  the  “man-servant,”  of  his  son  Nathaniel.  There 
is  reason  for  supposing,  as  has  been  stated,  that  Elizabeth  How 
was  the  wife  of  his  nephew.  Surely,  no  one  was  more  signalized 
by  their  malice  and  resentment  than  Francis  Dane ;  and  he 
deserves  to  be  recognized  as  standing  pre-eminent,  and,  for  a 
time,  almost  alone,  in  bold  denunciation  and  courageous  resist¬ 
ance  of  the  execrable  proceedings  of  that  dark  day. 

Francis  Dane  made  the  following  statement,  also  designed  to 
reach  the  authorities,  which  cannot  be  read  by  any  person  of  sen- 


SUPPLEMENT. 


461 


sibility  without  feeling  its  force,  although  it  made  no  impression 
upon  the  Court  at  the  time  :  — 

“  Concerning  my  daughter  Elizabeth  Johnson,  I  never  had  ground 
to  suspect  her,  neither  have  I  heard  any  other  to  accuse  her,  till  by 
spectre  evidence  she  was  brought  forth ;  but  this  I  must  say,  she  was 
weak,  and  incapacious,  fearful,  and  in  that  respect  I  fear  she  hath 
falsely  accused  herself  and  others.  Not  long  before  she  was  sent  for, 
she  spake  as  to  her  own  particular,  that  she  was  sure  she  was  no 
witch.  And  for  her  daughter  Elizabeth,  she  is  but  simplisli  at  the 
best ;  and  I  fear  the  common  speech,  that  was  frequently  spread  among 
us,  of  their  liberty  if  they  would  confess,  and  the  like  expression 
used  by  some,  have  brought  many  into  a  snare.  The  Lord  direct  and 
guide  those  that  are  in  place,  and  give  us  all  submissive  wills ;  and  let 
the  Lord  do  with  me  and  mine  what  seems  good  in  his  own  eyes  !  ” 

There  is  nothing  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Special  Court  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  more  disgraceful  than  the  fact,  that  the  regu¬ 
lar  Court  of  Superior  Judicature,  the  next  year,  after  the  public 
mind  had  been  rescued  from  the  delusion,  and  the  spectral  evi¬ 
dence  repudiated,  proceeded  to  try  these  and  other  persons,  and, 
in  the  face  of  such  statements  as  the  foregoing,  actually  con¬ 
demned  to  death  Elizabeth  Johnson,  Jr. 

It  is  remarkable  that  Brattle  does  not  mention  C'alef.  The 
understanding  has  been  that  they  acted  in  concert,  and  that  Brattle 
had  a  hand  in  getting  up  some  of  Calef’s  arguments.  The  silence 
of  Brattle  is  not,  upon  the  whole,  at  all  inconsistent  with  their 
mutual  action  and  alliance.  As  Calef  was  more  perfectly  unem¬ 
barrassed,  without  personal  relations  to  the  clergy  and  others  in 
high  station,  and  not  afraid  to  stand  in  the  gap,  it  was  thought 
best  to  let  him  take  the  fire  of  Cotton  Mather.  His  name  had 
not  been  connected  with  the  matter  in  the  public  apprehension. 
He  was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  and  a  son  of  Robert  Calef  of 
Roxburv.  Ilis  attention  was  called  to  the  proceedings  which  origi¬ 
nated  in  Salem  Village  ;  and  his  strong  faculties  and  moral  courage 
enabled  him  to  become  the  most  efficient  opponent,  in  his  day, 
of  the  system  of  false  reasoning  upon  which  the  prosecutions 
rested.  lie  prepared  several  able  papers  in  different  forms,  in 
which  he  discussed  the  subject  with  great  ability,  and  treated 
Cotton  Mather  and  all  others  whom  he  regarded  as  instru¬ 
mental  in  precipitating  the  community  into  the  fatal  tragedy, 


462 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


with  the  greatest  severity  of  language  and  force  of  logic,  holding 
up  the  whole  procedure  to  merited  condemnation.  They  were 
first  printed,  at  London,  in  1700,  in  a  small  quarto  volume,  under 
the  title  of  “  More  Wonders  of  the  Invisible  World.”  This  pub¬ 
lication  burst  like  a  bomb-shell  upon  all  who  had  been  con¬ 
cerned  in  promoting  the  witchcraft  prosecutions.  Cotton  Mather 
was  exasperated  to  the  highest  pitch.  He  says  in  his  diary  :  “  He 
sent  this  vile  volume  to  London  to  be  published,  and  the  book  is 
printed ;  and  the  impression  is,  this  day  week,  arrived  here.  The 
books  that  I  have  sent  over  into  England,  with  a  design  to  glorify 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  are  not  published,  but  strangely  delayed ; 
and  the  books  that  are  sent  over  to  vilify  me,  and  render  me  in¬ 
capable  to  glorify  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  —  these  are  published.” 
Calef’s  writings  gave  a  shock  to  Mather’s  influence,  from  which  it 
never  recovered. 

Great  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  drawing  the  story  out 
in  its  true  chronological  sequence.  The  effect  produced  upon  the 
public  mind,  when  it  became  convinced  that  the  proceedings  had 
been  wrong,  and  innocent  blood  shed,  was  a  universal  disposition 
to  bury  the  recollection  of  the  whole  transaction  in  silence,  and,  if 
possible,  oblivion.  This  led  to  a  suppression  and  destruction  of 
the  ordinary  materials  of  history.  Papers  were  abstracted  from 
the  files,  documents  in  private  hands  were  committed  to  the  flames, 
and  a  chasm  left  in  the  records  of  churches  and  public  bodies. 
The  journal  of  the  Special  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  is  no¬ 
where  to  be  found.  Hutchinson  appears  to  have  had  access  to  it. 
It  cannot  well  be  supposed  to  have  been  lost  by  fire  or  other  acci¬ 
dent,  because  the  records  of  the  regular  Court,  up  to  the  very  time 
when  the  Special  Court  came  into  operation,  and  from  the  time 
when  it  expired,  are  preserved  in  order.  A  portion  of  the  papers 
connected  with  the  trials  have  come  down  in  a  miscellaneous, 
scattered,  and  dilapidated  state,  in  the  offices  of  the  Clerk  of  the 
Courts  in  the  County  of  Essex,  and  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Com¬ 
monwealth.  By  far  the  larger  part  have  been  abstracted,  of  which 
a  few  have  been  deposited,  by  parties  into  whose  hands  they  had 
happened  to  come,  with  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  in 
Boston  and  the  Essex  Institute  at  Salem.  The  records  of  the  par¬ 
ish  of  Salem  Village,  although  exceedingly  well  kept  before  and 
after  1692  by  Thomas  Putnam,  are  in  another  hand  for  that 


SUPPLEMENT. 


463 


year,  very  brief,  and  make  no  reference  whatever  to  the  witch¬ 
craft  transactions.  This  general  desire  to  obliterate  the  memory 
of  the  calamity  has  nearly  extinguished  tradition.  It  is  more 
scanty  and  less  reliable  than  on  any  other  event  at  an  equal  dis¬ 
tance  in  the  past.  A  subject  on  which  men  avoided  to  speak  soon 
died  out  of  knowledge.  The  localities  of  many  very  interesting 
incidents  cannot  be  identified.  This  is  very  observable,  and  pecu¬ 
liarly  remarkable  as  to  places  in  the  now  City  of  Salem.  The 
reminiscences  floating  about  are  vague,  contradictory,  and  few  in 
number.  In  a  community  of  uncommon  intelligence,  composed,  to 
a  greater  degree  perhaps  than  almost  any  other,  of  families  that  have 
been  here  from  the  first,  very  inquisitive  for  knowledge,  and  always 
imbued  with  the  historical  spirit,  it  is  truly  surprising  how  little 
has  been  borne  down,  by  speech  and  memory,  in  the  form  of  an¬ 
ecdote,  personal  traits,  or  local  incidents,  of  this  most  extraor¬ 
dinary  and  wonderful  occurrence  of  such  world-wide  celebrity. 
Almost  all  that  we  know  is  gleaned  from  the  offices  of  the  Regis¬ 
try  of  Deeds  and  Wills.* 

*  As  an  illustration  of  the  oblivion  that  had  settled  over  the  details  of  the 
transactions  and  characters  connected  with  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  it  may 
be  mentioned,  that  when,  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  prepared  the  work  entitled 
“Lectures  on  Witchcraft;  comprising  a  History  of  the  Delusion  in  1692,”  al¬ 
though  professional  engagements  prevented  my  making  the  elaborate  explora¬ 
tion  that  has  now  been  given  to  the  subject,  I  extended  the  investigation  over 
the  ordinary  fields  of  research,  and  took  particular  pains  to  obtain  informa¬ 
tion  brought  down  by  tradition,  gleaned  all  that  could  be  gathered  from  the 
memories  of  old  persons  then  living  of  what  they  had  heard  from  their  prede¬ 
cessors,  and  sought  for  every  thing  that  local  antiquaries  and  genealogists  could 
contribute.  I  find,  by  the  methods  of  inquiry  adopted  in  the  preparation  of 
the  present  work,  how  inadequate  and  meagre  was  the  knowledge  then  pos¬ 
sessed.  Most  of  the  persons  accused  and  executed,  like  Giles  Corey,  his  wife 
Martha,  and  Bridget  Bishop,  were  supposed  to  have  been  of  humble,  if  not 
mean  condition,  of  vagrant  habits,  and  more  or  less  despicable  repute.  By 
following  the  threads  placed  in  my  hands,  in  the  files  of  the  county-offices  of 
Registry  of  Deeds  and  Wills,  and  documents  connected  with  trials  at  law,  and 
by  a  collation  of  conveyances  and  the  administration  of  estates,  I  find  that 
Core}-,  however  eccentric  or  open  to  criticism  in  some  features  of  character 
and  passages  of  his  life,  was  a  large  landholder,  and  a  man  of  singular  force 
and  acuteness  of  intellect;  while  his  wife  had  an  intelligence  in  advance  of 
her  times,  and  was  a  woman  of  eminent  piety.  The  same  is  found  to  have  been 
the  case  with  most  of  those  who  suffered. 

The  reader  may  judge  of  my  surprise  in  now  discovering,  that,  while 


464 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


It  is  remarkable,  that  the  marshal  and  sheriff,  both  quite  young 
men,  so  soon  followed  their  victims  to  the  other  world.  Jonathan 
Walcot,  the  father  of  Mary,  and  next  neighbor  to  Parris,  removed 
from  the  village,  and  died  at  Salem  in  1699.  Thomas  Putnam 
and  Ann  his  wife,  the  parents  of  the  “afflicted  child,”  who 
acted  so  extraordinary  a  part  in  the  proceedings  and  of  whom 
farther  mention  will  be  made,  died  in  1699, — the  former  on  the 
24th  of  May,  the  latter  on  the  8th  of  June,  —  at  the  respective 
ages  of  forty-seven  and  thirty-eight.*  There  are  indications  that 
they  saw  the  errors  into  which  they  had  been  led.  If  their  eyes 
were  at  all  opened  to  this  view,  how  terrible  must  have  been  the 
thought  of  the  cruel  wrongs  and  wide-spread  ruin  of  which  they 
had  been  the  cause !  Of  the  circumstances  of  their  deaths,  or 
their  last  words  and  sentiments,  we  have  no  knowledge.  It  is 
not  strange,  that,  in  addition  to  all  her  woes,  the  death  of  her 
husband  was  more  than  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  could  bear,  and  that 

writing  the  “  Lectures  on  Witchcraft,”  I  was  owning  and  occupying  a  part  of 
the  estate  of  Bridget  Bishop,  if  not  actually  living  in  her  house.  The  hard, 
impenetrable,  all  but  petrified  oak  frame  seems  to  argue  that  it  dates  back 
as  far  as  when  she  rebuilt  and  renewed  the  original  structure.  Little,  how¬ 
ever,  did  I  suspect,  while  delivering  those  lectures  in  the  Lyceum  Hall,  that 
we  were  assembled  on  the  site  of  her  orchard,  the  scene  of  the  preternatural 
and  diabolical  feats  charged  upon  her  by  the  testimony  of  Louder  and 
others.  Her  estate  was  one  of  the  most  eligible  and  valuable  in  the  old 
town,  with  a  front,  as  has  been  mentioned,  of  a  hundred  feet  on  Washington 
Street,  and  extending  along  Church  Street  more  than  half  the  distance  to 
St.  Peter’s  Street.  At  the  same  time,  her  husband  seems  to  have  had  a  house 
in  the  village,  near  the  head  of  Bass  River.  It  is  truly  remarkable,  that  the 
locality  of  the  property  and  residence  of  a  person  of  her  position,  and  who  led 
the  way  among  the  victims  of  such  an  awful  tragedy,  should  have  become 
wholly  obliterated  from  memory  and  tradition,  in  a  community  of  such  intelli¬ 
gence,  consisting,  in  so  large  a  degree,  of  old  families,  tracing  themselves 
back  to  the  earliest  generations,  and  among  whom  the  innumerable  descend¬ 
ants  of  her  seven  great-grandchildren  have  continued  to  this  day.  It  can  only 
he  accounted  for  by  the  considerations  mentioned  in  the  text.  Tradition  was 
stifled  by  horror  and  shame.  What  all  desired  to  forget  was  forgotten. 
The  only  recourse  was  in  oblivion ;  and  all,  sufferers  and  actors  alike,  found 
shelter  under  it. 

*  The  looseness  and  inaccuracy  of  persons  in  reference  to  their  own  ages,  in 
early  times,  is  quite  observable.  In  depositions,  they  speak  of  themselves  as 
“about”  so  many  years,  or  as  of  so  many  years  “or  thereabouts.”  A 
variance  on  this  point  is  often  found  in  the  statements  of  the  same  person 


SUPPLEMENT. 


465 


she  followed  him  so  soon  to  the  grave.  Of  the  other  accusers, 
we  have  but  little  information.  Elizabeth  Booth  was  married  to 
Israel  Shaw  about  the  year  1700.  Mary  Walcot  was  married, 
somewhere  between  1692  and  1697,  to  a  person  belonging  to  Wo¬ 
burn,  whose  name  is  torn  or  worn  olf  from  Mr.  Parris’s  records. 
Of  the  other  “afflicted  children”  nothing  is  known,  beyond  the 
fact,  that  the  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Province,  reversing 
the  judgments,  and  taking  off  the  attainder  from  those  who  were 
sentenced  to  death  in  1692,  has  this  paragraph:  “Some  of  the 
principal  accusers  and  witnesses  in  those  dark  and  severe  prosecu¬ 
tions  have  since  discovered  themselves  to  be  persons  of  proiligate 
and  vicious  conversation;”  and  Calef  speaks  of  them  as  “vile 
varlets,”  and  asserts  that  their  reputations  were  not  without  spot 
before,  and  that  subsequently  they  became  abandoned  to  open 
and  shameless  vice. 

A  very  considerable  number  of  the  people  left  the  place.  John 
Shepard  and  Samuel  Sibley  sold  their  lands,  and  went  elsewhere ; 
as  did  Peter  Cloyse,  who  never  brought  his  family  to  the  village 
after  his  wife’s  release  from  prison.  Edward  and  Sarah  Bishoj) 
sold  their  estates,  and  took  up  their  abode  at  Rehoboth.  Some 
of  the  Raymond  family  removed  to  Middleborough.  The  Haynes 
family  emigrated  to  New  Jersey.  No  mention  is  afterwards  found 
of  other  families  in  the  record-books.  The  descendants  of  Thomas 
and  Edward  Putnam,  in  the  next  generation,  were  mostly  dis- 

at  different  times.  Neither  are  records  always  to  be  relied  upon  as  to  pre¬ 
cision.  In  the  record-book  of  the  village  church,  Mr.  Parris  enters  the  age 
of  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam,  at  the  date  of  her  admission,  June  4,  1691,  as  “Ann: 
setat:  27.”  But  an  “Account  of  the  Early  Settlers  of  Salisbury,”  in  the 
“  New-England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register,”  vol.  vii.  p.  314,  gives 
the  date  of  her  birth  “  15,  4,  1661.”  Her  age  is  stated  above  according  to 
this  last  authority;  and,  if  correct,  shawas  not  so  young,  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage,  as  intimated  (vol.  i.  p.  253),  but  seventeen  years  five  months  and 
ten  days.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  conceive  how  Parris,  who  was  careful 
about  such  matters,  and  undoubtedly  had  his  information  from  her  own  lips, 
could  have  been  so  far  out  of  the  way.  Her  brother,  William  Carr,  in  1692, 
deposed  that  he  was  then  forty -one  years  of  age  or  thereabouts;  whereas, 
the  “  Account  of  the  Early  Settlers  of  Salisbury,”  just  referred  to,  gives  the 
date  of  his  birth  “  15,  1,  1648.”  It  is  indeed  singular,  that  two  members  of 
a  family  of  their  standing  should  have  been  under  an  error  as  to  their  own 
age;  one  to  an  extent  of  almost,  the  other  of  some  months  more  than, 
thi  •ee  years. 


VOL.  II. 


•30 


466 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


persed  to  other  places  ;  but  those  of  Joseph  remained  on  his  lands, 
and  have  occupied  his  homestead  to  this  day.  It  is  a  singular 
circumstance,  that  some  of  the  spots  whex-e,  particularly,  the 
great  mischief  was  brewed,  are,  and  long  have  been,  deserted. 
Where  the  parsonage  stood,  with  its  barn  and  garden  and  well 
and  pathways,  is  now  a  bai’e  and  rugged  field,  without  a  vestige 
of  its  former  occupancy,  except  a  few  broken  bi’icks  that  mark  the 
site  of  the  house.  The  same  is  the  case  of  the  homestead  of  Jona¬ 
than  Walcot.  It  was  in  these  two  families  that  the  affair  began 
and  was  matured.  The  spots  where  sevei’al  others,  who  figured 
in  the  proceedings,  lived,  have  ceased  to  be  occupied ;  and  the 
only  signs  of  former  habitation  are  hollows  in  the  ground,  frag¬ 
ments  of  pottery,  and  heaps  of  stones  denoting  the  location  of 
cellai’S  and  walls.  Here  and  there,  where  houses  and  other  sti-uc- 
tui’es  once  stood,  the  blight  still  rests. 

Some  circumstances  relating  to  the  personal  history  of  those 
who  experienced  the  greatest  misery  during  the  prevalence  of  the 
di'eadful  fanaticism,  and  were  left  to  mourn  over  its  victims,  have 
happened  to  be  preserved  in  records  and  documents  on  file.  On 
the  30th  of  November,  1699,  Mai’garet  Jacobs  was  married  to 
John  Foster.  She  belonged  to  Air.  Noyes’s  pai'ish  ;  but  the  recol¬ 
lection  of  his  agency  in  pushing  on  proceedings  which  carried  in 
their  train  the  executioix  of  her  aged  grandfather,  the  exile  of  her 
father,  the  long  imprisonment  of  her  mother  and  herself,  with  the 
prospect  of  a  violent  and  shameful  death  hanging  over  them  evei’y 
hour,  and,  above  all,  her  own  wretched  abandonment  of  truth  and 
conscience  for  a  while,  probably  under  his  pei’suasion,  made  it 
impossible  for  her  to  think  of  being  married  by  him.  Mr.  Gi’cene 
was  known  to  sympathize  with  those  who  had  suffered,  and  the 
couple  went  to  the  village  to  be  united.  Some  years  afterwards, 
when  the  church  of  the  Middle  Precinct,  now  South  Danvers,  was 
organized,  John  and  Margaret  Foster,  among  the  first,  took  their 
children  there  for  baptism ;  and  their  descendants  ai*e  numerous, 
in  this  neighboi'liood  and  elsewhere.  Margaret,  the  widow  of 
John  Willard,  married  William  Towne.  Elizabeth,  the  widow 
of  John  Procter,  married,  subsequently  to  1696,  a  person  named 
Richards.  Edward  Bishop,  the  husband  of  Bridget,  a  few  years 
afterwards  was  appointed  guardian  of  Susannah  Mason,  the  only 
child  of  Christian,  who  was  the  only  child  of  Bi'idget  by  her 


SUPPLEMENT. 


467 


former  husband  Thomas  Oliver.  Bishop  seems  to  have  invested 
the  money  of  his  ward  in  the  lot  at  the  extreme  end  of  Forrester 
Street,  where  it  connects  with  Essex  Street,  bounded  by  For¬ 
rester  Street  on  the  north  and  east,  and  Essex  Street  on  the 
south.  This  was  the  property  of  Susannah  when  she  married 
John  Becket,  Jr.  Bishop  appears  to  have  continued  his  busi¬ 
ness  of  a  sawyer  to  a  very  advanced  age,  and  died  in  Salem,  in 
1705. 

Sarah  Nurse,  about  two  years  after  her  mother’s  death,  married 
Michael  Bowden,  of  Marblehead ;  and  they  occupied  her  father’s 
house,  in  the  town  of  Salem,  of  which  he  had  retained  the  pos- 
,  session.  Ilis  family  having  thus  all  been  married  off,  Francis 
Nurse  gave  up  his  homestead  to  his  son  Samuel,  and  divided  his 
remaining  property  among  his  four  sons  and  four  daughters.  lie 
made  no  formal  deed  or  will,  but  drew  up  a  paper,  dated  Dec.  4, 
1694,  describing  the  distribution  of  the  estate,  and  what  he  ex¬ 
pected  of  his  children.  lie  gave  them  immediate  occupancy  and 
possession  of  their  respective  portions.  The  provision  made  by 
the  old  man  for  his  comfort,  and  the  conditions  required  of  his 
children,  are  curious.  They  give  an  interesting  insight  of  the  life 
of  a  rural  patriarch.  He  reserved  his  “  great  chair  and  cushion  ;  ” 
a  great  chest ;  his  bed  and  bedding  ;  wardrobe,  linen  and  woollen  ; 
a  pewter  pot ;  one  mare,  bridle,  saddle,  and  sufficient  fodder ;  the 
whole  of  the  crop  of  corn,  both  Indian  and  English,  he  had  made 
that  year.  The  children  were  to  discharge  all  the  debts  of  his 
estate,  pay  him  fourteen  pounds  a  year,  and  contribute  equally, 
as  much  more  as  might  be  necessary  for  his  comfortable  mainte¬ 
nance,  and  also  to  his  “decent  burial.”  The  labors  of  his  life 
had  closed.  He  had  borne  the  heaviest  burden  that  can  be  laid 
on  the  heart  of  a  good  man.  He  found  rest,  and  sought  solace 
and  support,  in  the  society  and  love  of  his  children  and  their  fami¬ 
lies,  as  he  rode  from  house  to  house  on  the  road  he  had  opened, 
by  which  they  all  communicated  with  each  other.  The  parish 
records  show  that  he  continued  his  interest  in  its  affairs.  He 
lived  just  long  enough  to  behold  sure  evidence  that  justice  would 
be  done  to  the  memory  of  those  who  suffered,  and  the  authors  of 
the  mischief  be  consigned  to  the  condemnation  of  mankind.  The 
tide,  upon  which  Mr.  Parris  had  ridden  to  the  destruction  of  so 
many,  had  turned ;  and  it  was  becoming  apparent  to  all,  that 


468 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


he  would  soon  be  compelled  to  disappear  from  his  ministry  in 
the  village,  before  the  awakening  resentment  of  the  people  and  the 
ministers.  Francis  Nurse  died  on  the  2'2d  of  November,  1695, 
seventy-seven  years  of  age.  His  sons  with  their  wives,  and  his 
daughters  with  their  husbands,  went  into  the  Probate  Court  with 
the  paper  before  described,  and  unanimously  requested  the  judge 
to  have  the  estate  divided  according  to  its  terms.  This  is  conclu¬ 
sive  proof  that  the  father  had  been  just  and  wrise  in  his  arrange¬ 
ments,  and  that  true  fraternal  love  and  harmony  pervaded  the 
whole  family.  The  descendants,  under  the  names  of  Bowden, 
Tarbell,  and  Russell,  are  dispersed  in  various  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try  :  those  under  the  name  of  Preston,  while  some  have  gone 
elsewhere,  have  been  ever  since,  and  still  are,  among  the  most 
respectable  and  honored  citizens  of  the  village.  Some  of  the 
name  of  Nurse  have  also  remained,  and  worthily  represent  and 
perpetuate  it. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  tide’s  beginning  to  turn  in  1695.  Sure 
indications  to  that  effect  were  then  quite  visible.  It  had  begun 
far  down  in  the  public  mind  before  the  prosecutions  ceased ; 
but  it  was  long  before  the  change  became  apparent  on  the  sur¬ 
face.  It  was  long;  before  men  found  utterance  for  their  feelings. 

Persons  living  at  a  distance  have  been  accustomed,  and  are  to 
this  day,  to  treat  the  Salem-witchcraft  transaction  in  the  spirit  of 
lightsome  ridicule,  and  to  make  it  the  subject  of  jeers  and  jokes. 
Not  so  those  who  have  lived  on,  or  near,  the  fatal  scene.  They 
have  ever  regarded  it  with  solemn  awe  and  profound  sorrow, 
and  shunned  the  mention,  and  even  the  remembrance,  of  its  de¬ 
tails.  This  prevented  an  immediate  expression  of  feeling,  and 
delayed  movements  in  the  way  of  attempting  a  reparation  of  the 
wrongs  that  had  been  committed.  The  heart  sickened,  the  lips 
were  dumb,  at  the  very  thought  of  those  wrongs.  Reparation 
was  impossible.  The  dead  were  beyond  its  reach.  The  sorrows 
and  anguish  of  survivors  were  also  beyond  its  reach.  The  voice 
of  sympathy  was  felt  to  be  unworthy  to  obtrude  upon  sensibilities 
that  had  been  so  outraged.  The  only  refuge  left  for  the  indi¬ 
viduals  who  had  been  bereaved,  and  for  the  body  of  the  people 
who  realized  that  innocent  blood  was  on  all  their  hands,  was  in 
humble  and  soul-subdued  silence,  and  in  prayers  for  forgiveness 
from  God  and  from  each  other. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


469 


It  was  long  before  the  public  mind  recovered  from  its  paraly¬ 
sis.  No  one  knew  what  ought  to  be  said  or  done,  the  tragedy 
had  been  so  awful.  The  parties  who  had  acted  in  it  were  so 
numerous,  and  of  such  standing,  including  almost  all  the  most 
eminent  and  honored  leaders  of  the  community  from  the  bench, 
the  bar,  the  magistracy,  the  pulpit,  the  medical  faculty,  and  in 
fact  all  classes  and  descriptions  of  persons ;  the  mysteries  con¬ 
nected  with  the  accusers  and  confessors ;  the  universal  preva¬ 
lence  of  the  legal,  theological,  and  philosophical  theories  that 
had  led  to  the  proceedings  ;  the  utter  impossibility  of  realizing 
or  measuring  the  extent  of  the  calamity  ;  and  the  general  shame 
and  horror  associated  with  the  subject  in  all  minds;  prevented 
any  open  movement.  Then  there  was  the  dread  of  rekindling 
animosities  which  time  was  silently  subduing,  and  nothing  but 
time  could  fully  extinguish.  Slowly,  however,  the  remembrance 
of  wrongs  was  becoming  obscured.  Neighborhood  and  business 
relations  were  gradually  reconciling  the  estranged.  Offices  of 
civility,  courtesy,  and  good-will  were  reviving ;  social  and  family 
intimacies  and  connections  were  taking  effect  and  restoring  the 
community  to  a  natural  and  satisfactory  condition.  Every  day, 
the  sentiment  was  sinking  deeper  in  the  public  mind,  that  some¬ 
thing  was  required  to  be  done  to  avert  the  displeasure  of  Heaven 
from  a  guilty  land.  But  while  some  were  ready  to  forgive,  and 
some  had  the  grace  to  ask  to  be  forgiven,  any  general  move¬ 
ment  in  this  direction  was  obstructed  by  difficulties  hard  to  be 
surmounted. 

The  wrongs  committed  were  so  remediless,  the  outrages  upon 
right,  character,  and  life,  had  been  so  shocking,  that  it  was  ex¬ 
pecting  too  much  from  the  ordinary  standard  of  humanity  to 
demand  a  general  oblivion.  On  the  other  hand,  so  many  had 
been  responsible  for  them,  and  their  promoters  embraced  such 
a  great  majority  of  all  the  leading  classes  of  society,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  call  them  to  account.  Dr.  Bentley  describes  the 
condition  of  the  community,  in  some  brief  and  pregnant  sen¬ 
tences,  characteristic  of  his  peculiar  style :  “As  soon  as  the  judges 
ceased  to  condemn,  the  people  ceased  to  accuse.  .  .  .  Terror  at 
the  violence  and  guilt  of  the  proceedings  succeeded  instantly  to 
the  conviction  of  blind  zeal ;  and  what  every  man  had  encouraged 
all  professed  to  abhor.  Few  dared  to  blame  other  men,  because 


470 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


few  were  innocent.  The  guilt  and  the  shame  became  the  portion 
of  the  country,  while  Salem  had  the  infamy  of  being  the  place  of 
the  transactions.  .  .  .  After  the  public  mind  became  quiet,  few 
things  were  done  to  disturb  it.  But  a  diminished  population, 
the  injury  done  to  religion,  and  the  distress  of  the  aggrieved, 
were  seen  and  felt  with  the  greatest  sorrow.  .  .  .  Every  place  was 
the  subject  of  some  direful  tale.  Fear  haunted  every  street. 
Melancholy  dwelt  in  silence  in  every  place,  after  the  sun  retired. 
Business  could  not,  for  some  time,  recover  its  former  channels  ; 
and  the  innocent  suffered  with  the  guilty.” 

While  the  subject  was  felt  to  be  too  dark  and  awful  to  be 
spoken  of,  and  most  men  desired  to  bury  it  in  silence,  occasionally 
the  slumbering  fires  would  rekindle,  and  the  flames  of  animosity 
burst  forth.  The  recollection  of  the  part  he  had  acted,  and  the 
feelings  of  many  towards  him  in  consequence,  rendered  the 
situation  of  the  sheriff  often  quite  unpleasant ;  and  the  resentment 
of  some  broke  out  in  a  shameful  demonstration  at  his  death,  which 
occurred  early  in  1697.  Mr.  English,  representing  that  class  who 
had  suffered  under  his  official  hands  in  1692,  having  a  business 
demand  upon  him,  in  the  shape  of  a  suit  for  debt,  stood  ready 
to  seize  his  body  after  it  was  prepared  for  interment,  and  pre¬ 
vented  the  funeral  at  the  time.  The  body  was  temporarily  de¬ 
posited  on  the  sheriff’s  own  premises.  There  were,  it  is  probable, 
from  time  to  time,  other  less  noticeable  occurrences  manifesting 
the  long-continued  existence  of  the  unhappy  state  of  feeling  engen¬ 
dered  in  1692.  There  were  really  two  parties  in  the  community, 
generally  both  quiescent,  but  sometimes  coming  into  open  col¬ 
lision  ;  the  one  exasperated  by  the  wrongs  they  and  their  friends 
had  suffered,  the  other  determined  not  to  allow  those  who  had 
acted  in  conducting  the  prosecutions  to  be  called  to  account  for 
what  they  had  done.  After  the  lapse  of  thirty  years,  and  long 
subsequent  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Noyes,  Mr.  English  was  prose¬ 
cuted  for  having  said  that  Mr.  Noyes  had  murdered  Rebecca 
Nurse  and  John  Procter. 

It  has  been  suggested,  that  the  bearing  of  the  executive  officers 
of  the  law  towards  the  prisoners  was  often  quite  harsh.  This  re¬ 
sulted  from  the  general  feeling,  in  which  these  officials  would  have 
been  likely  to  sympathize,  of  the  peculiarly  execrable  nature  of 
the  crime  charged  upon  the  accused,  and  from  the  danger  that 


SUPPLEMENT. 


471 


might  attend  the  manifestation  of  any  appearance  of  kindly  re¬ 
gard  for  them.  So  far  as  the  seizure  of  goods  is  considered, 
or  the  exaction  of  fees,  the  conduct  of  the  officials  was  in  con¬ 
formity  with  usage  and  instructions.  The  system  of  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  the  law,  compared  with  our  times,  was  stern,  severe, 
and  barbarous.  The  whole  tone  of  society  was  more  unfeeling. 
Philanthropy  had  not  then  extended  its  operations,  or  directed 
its  notice,  to  the  prison.  Sheriff  Corwin  was  quite  a  young  man, 
being  but  twenty-six  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  appointment, 
lie  probably  acted  under  the  advice  of  his  relatives  and  connec¬ 
tions  on  the  bench.  I  think  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  particular 
cruelty  evinced  by  him.  The  arrests,  examinations,  and  imprison¬ 
ments  had  taken  place  under  his  predecessor,  Marshal  Herrick, 
who  continued  in  the  service  as  his  deputy. 

That  individual,  indeed,  had  justly  incurred  the  resentment  of 
the  sufferers  and  their  friends,  by  eager  zeal  in  urging  on  the 
prosecutions,  perpetual  officiousness,  and  unwarrantable  inter¬ 
ference  against  the  prisoners  at  the  preliminary  examinations. 
The  odium  originally  attached  to  the  marshal  seems  to  have  been 
transferred  to  his  successor,  and  the  whole  was  laid  at  the  door 
of  the  sheriff.  Marshal  Herrick  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
connected  with  Joseph  Herrick,  who  lived  on  what  is  now  called 
Cherry  Hill,  but  was  a  man  of  an  entirely  different  stamp.  He  was 
thirty-four  years  of  age,  and  had  not  been  very  long  in  the  country. 
John  Dunton  speaks  of  meeting  him  in  Salem,  in  1G86,  and  de¬ 
scribes  him  as  a  “  very  tall,  handsome  man,  very  regular  and  devout 
in  his  attendance  at  church,  religious  without  bigotry,  and  having 
every  man’s  good  word.”  His  impatient  activity  against  the 
victims  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  wrought  a  great  change  in  the 
condition  of  this  popular  and  “handsome”  man,  as  is  seen  in 
a  petition  presented  by  him,  Dee.  8,  1692,  to  “His  Excel¬ 
lency  Sir  William  Phips,  Knight,  Captain-general  and  Governor 
of  Their  Majesties’  Territories  and  Dominions  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  New  England;  and  to  the  Honorable  William  Stoughton, 
Esq.,  Deputy-Governor;  and  to  the  rest  of  the  Honored  Council.” 
It  begins  thus  :  “  The  petition  of  your  poor  servant,  George  Her¬ 
rick,  most  humbly  showeth.”  After  recounting  his  great  ami 
various  services  “for  the  term  of  nine  months,  as  marshal  or 
deputy-sheriff  in  apprehending  many  prisoners,  and  conveying 


472 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


them  “  unto  prison  and  from  prison  to  prison,”  he  complains  that 
his  whole  time  had  been  taken  up  so  that  he  was  incapable  of 
getting  any  thing  for  the  maintenance  of  his  “  poor  family :  ”  he 
further  states  that  he  had  become  so  impoverished  that  necessity 
had  forced  him  to  lay  down  his  place  ;  and  that  he  must  certainly 
come  to  want,  if  not  in  some  measure  supplied.  “Therefore  I 
humbly  beseech  Your  Honors  to  take  my  case  and  condition  so 
far  into  consideration,  that  I  may  have  some  supply  this  hard 
winter,  that  I  and  my  poor  children  may  not  be  destitute  of  suste¬ 
nance,  and  so  inevitably  perish  ;  for  I  have  been  bred  a  gentleman, 
and  not  much  used  to  work,  and  am  become  despicable  in  these 
hard  times.”  He  concludes  by  declaring,  that  he  is  not  “  weary 
of  serving  his  king  and  country,”  nor  very  scrupulous  as  to  the 
kind  of  service;  for  he  promises  that  “if  his  habitation”  could 
thereby  be  “graced  with  plenty  in  the  room  of  penury,  there 
shall  be  no  services  too  dangerous  and  difficult,  but  your  poor 
petitioner  will  gladly  accept,  and  to  the  best  of  my  power  accom¬ 
plish.  I  shall  wholly  lay  myself  at  Your  Honorable  feet  for 
relief.”  Marshal  Herrick  died  in  1695. 

But,  while  this  feeling  was  spreading  among  the  people,  the 
government  were  doing  their  best  to  check  it.  There  was  great 
apprehension,  that,  if  allowed  to  gather  force,  it  would  burst  over 
all  barriers,  that  no  limit  would  be  put  to  its  demands  for  the 
restoration  of  property  seized  by  the  officers  of  the  law,  and  that 
it  would  wreak  vengeance  upon  all  who  had  been  engaged  in 
the  prosecutions.  Under  the  influence  of  this  fear,  the  follow¬ 
ing  attempt  was  made  to  shield  the  sheriff  of  the  county  from 
prosecutions  for  damages  by  those  whose  relatives  had  suf¬ 
fered  :  — 

“At  a  Superior  Court  of  Judicature,  Court  of  Assize,  and  General  Jail 

Delivery,  held  at  Ipswich,  the  fifteenth  day  of  May,  anno  Domini  1694. — 

Present,  William  Stoughton,  Esq.,  Chief-justice ;  Thomas  Danforth, 

Esq. ;  Samuel  Sewall,  Esq. 

“  This  Court,  having  adjusted  the  accounts  of  George  Corwin,  Esq., 
high-sheriff  for  the  county  of  Essex,  do  allow  the  same  to  be  just  and 
true ;  and  that  there  remains  a  balance  due  to  him,  the  said  Corwin, 
of  .£67.  Gs.  Ad.,  which  is  also  allowed  unto  him  ;  and,  pursuant  to  law, 
this  Court  doth  fully,  clearly,  and  absolutely  acquit  and  discharge  him, 


SUPPLEMENT. 


473 


the  said  George  Corwin,  his  heirs,  executors,  and  administrators,  lands 
and  tenements,  goods  and  chattels,  of  and  from  all  manner  of  sum  or 
sums  of  money,  goods  or  chattels  levied,  received,  or  seized,  and  of  all 
debts,  duties,  and  demands  which  are  or  may  be  charged  in  his,  the 
said  Corwin’s,  accounts,  or  which  may  be  imposed  by  reason  of  the 
sherifT s  office,  or  any  thing  by  him  done  by  virtue  thereof,  or  in 
the  execution  of  the  same,  from  the  time  he  entered  into  the  said 
office,  to  this  Court.” 

This  extraordinary  attempt  of  the  Court  to  close  the  doors  of 
justice  beforehand  against  suits  for  damages  did  not  seem  to 
have  any  effect ;  for  Mr.  English  compelled  the  executors  of  the 
sheriff  to  pay  over  to  him  £60.  3s. 

At  length,  the  government  had  to  meet  the  public  feeling.  A 
proclamation  was  issued,  “By  the  Honorable  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  Council,  and  Assembly  of  His  Majesty’s  province  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay,  in  General  Court  assembled.”  It  begins  thus  : 
“Whereas  the  anger  of  God  is  not  yet  turned  away,  but  his  hand 
is  still  stretched  out  against  his  people  in  manifold  judgments 
and,  after  several  specifications  of  the  calamities  under  which  they 
were  suffering,  and  referring  to  the  “  many  days  of  public  and 
solemn  ”  addresses  made  to  God,  it  proceeds  :  “Yet  we  cannot  but 
also  fear  that  there  is  something  still  wanting  to  accompany  our 
supplications  ;  and  doubtless  there  are  some  particular  sins  which 
God  is  angry  with  our  Israel  for,  that  have  not  been  duly  seen  and 
resented  by  us,  about  which  God  expects  to  be  sought,  if  ever  he 
again  turn  our  captivity.”  Thursday,  the  fourteenth  of  the  next 
January,  was  accordingly  appointed  to  be  observed  as  a  day  of 
prayer  and  fasting,  — 

“  That  so  all  God’s  people  may  offer  up  fervent  supplications  unto  him, 
that  all  iniquity  may  be  put  away,  which  hath  stirred  God’s  holy  jeal¬ 
ousy  against  this  land ;  that  he  would  show  us  what  we  know  not,  and 
help  us,  wherein  we  have  done  amiss,  to  do  so  no  more ;  and  especially, 
that,  whatever  mistakes  on  either  hand  have  been  fallen  into,  either  by 
the  body  of  this  people  or  any  orders  of  men,  referring  to  the  late 
tragedy,  raised  among  us  by  Satan  and  his  instruments,  through  the 
awful  judgment  of  God,  he  would  humble  us  therefor,  and  pardon  all 
the  errors  of  his  servants  and  people  that  desire  to  love  his  name; 
that  he  would  remove  the  rod  of  the  wicked  from  off  the  lot  of  the 


474 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


righteous ;  that  he  would  bring  in  the  American  heathen,  and  cause 
them  to  hear  and  obey  his  voice. 

“  Given  at  Boston,  Bee.  17,  1696,  in  the  eighth  year  of  His  Majes¬ 
ty’s  reign.  Isaac  Addington,  Secretary.” 

The  jury  had  acted  in  conformity  with  their  obligations  and 
honest  convictions  of  duty  in  bringing  in  their  verdicts.  They  had 
sworn  to  decide  according  to  the  law  and  the  evidence.  The  law 
under  which  they  were  required  to  act  was  laid  down  with  abso¬ 
lute  positiveness  by  the  Court.  They  were  bound  to  receive  it, 
and  to  take  and  weigh  the  evidence  that  wras  admitted ;  and  to  their 
minds  it  was  clear,  decisive,  and  overwhelming,  offered  by  persons 
of  good  character,  and  confirmed  by  a  great  number  of  confes¬ 
sions.  If  it  had  been  within  their  province,  as  it  always  is  de¬ 
clared  not  to  be,  to  discuss  the  general  principles,  and  sit  in 
judgment  on  the  particular  penalties  of  law,  it  would  not  have 
altered  the  case  ;  for,  at  that  time,  not  only  the  common  people, 
but  the  wisest  philosophers,  supported  the  interpretation  of  the 
law  that  acknowledged  the  existence  of  witchcraft,  and  its  sanction 
that  visited  it  with  death. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  so  tender  and  sensitive  were 
the  consciences  of  the  jurors,  that  they  signed  and  circulated  the 
following  humble  and  solemn  declaration  of  regret  for  the  part 
they  had  borne  in  the  trials.  As  the  publication  of  this  paper  was 
highly  honorable  to  those  who  signed  it,  and  cannot  but  be  con¬ 
templated  with  satisfaction  by  all  their  descendants,  I  will  repeat 
their  names :  — 

“hre  whose  names  are  underwritten,  being  in  the  year  1692  called 
to  serve  as  jurors  in  court  at  Salem,  on  trial  of  many  who  were  by 
some  suspected  guilty  of  doing  acts  of  witchcraft  upon  the  bodies  of 
sundry  persons,  —  we  confess  that  we  ourselves  were  not  capable  to 
understand,  nor  able  to  withstand,  the  mysterious  delusions  of  the 
powers  of  darkness  and  Prince  of  the  air,  but  were,  for  want  of  knowl¬ 
edge  in  ourselves  and  better  information  from  others,  prevailed  with  to 
take  up  with  such  evidence  against  the  accused  as,  on  further  consid¬ 
eration  and  better  information,  we  justly  fear  was  insufficient  for  the 
touching  the  lives  of  any  (Deut.  xvii.  6),  whereby  we  fear  we  have 
been  instrumental,  with  others,  though  ignorantly  and  unwittingly,  to 
bring  upon  ourselves  and  this  people  of  the  Lord  the  guilt  of  innocent 
blood ;  which  sin  the  Lord  saitli  in  Scripture  he  would  not  pardon 


SUPPLEMENT. 


475 


(2  Kings  xxiv.  4),  —  that  is,  we  suppose,  in  regard  of  his  temporal 
judgments.  We  do  therefore  hereby  signify  to  all  in  general,  and  to 
the  surviving  sufferers  in  special,  our  deep  sense  of,  and  sorrow  for, 
our  errors  in  acting  on  such  evidence  to  the  condemning  of  any  per¬ 
son ;  and  do  hereby  declare,  that  we  justly  fear  that  we  were  sadly 
deluded  and  mistaken,  —  for  which  we  are  much  disquieted  and  dis¬ 
tressed  in  our  minds,  and  do  therefore  humbly  beg  forgiveness,  first, 
of  God,  for  Christ’s  sake,  for  this  our  error,  and  pray  that  God  would 
not  impute  the  guilt  of  it  to  ourselves  nor  others :  and  we  also  pray 
that  we  may  be  considered  candidly  and  aright  by  the  living  sufferers, 
as  being  then  under  the  power  of  a  strong  and  general  delusion,  utterly 
unacquainted  with,  and  not  experienced  in,  matters  of  that  nature. 

“  We  do  heartily  ask  forgiveness  of  you  all,  whom  we  have  justly 
offended ;  and  do  declare,  according  to  our  present  minds,  we  would 
none  of  us  do  such  things  again,  on  such  grounds,  for  the  whole 
world,  —  praying  you  to  accept  of  this  in  way  of  satisfaction  for  our 
offence,  and  that  you  would  bless  the  inheritance  of  the  Lord,  that  he 
may  be  entreated  for  the  land. 


Thomas  Pearly,  Sr. 


“Thomas  Fisk,  Foreman. 
William  Fisk. 

John  Bacheler. 
Thomas  Fisk,  Jr. 

John  Dane. 

Joseph  Evelith. 


John  Peabody. 
Thomas  Perkins 
Samuel  Sayer. 
Andrew  Eliot. 


Henry  Herrick,  Sr.” 


In  1697,  Rev.  John  Hale,  of  Beverly,  published  a  work  on  the 
subject  of  the  witchcraft  persecutions,  in  which  he  gives  the  reasons 
which  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  there  was  error  at  the  foun¬ 
dation  of  the  proceedings.  The  following  extract  shows  that  he 
took  a  rational  view  of  the  subject :  — 

“  It  may  be  queried  then,  How  doth  it  appear  that  there  was  a 
going  too  far  in  this  affair  ? 

“  Answer  I.  —  By  the  number  of  persons  accused.  It  cannot  be 
imagined,  that,  in  a  place  of  so  much  knowledge,  so  many,  in  so  small 
a  compass  of  land,  should  so  abominably  leap  into  the  Devil’s  lap,  — 
at  once. 

“  Ans.  II.  —  The  quality  of  several  of  the  accused  was  such  as 
did  bespeak  better  things,  and  things  that  accompany  salvation. 
Persons  whose  blameless  and  holy  lives  before  did  testify  for  them ; 
persons  that  had  taken  great  pains  to  bring  up  their  children  in  the 
nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  such  as  we  had  charity  for  as  for  our 


476 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


own  souls,  —  and  charity  is  a  Christian  duty,  commended  to  us  in 
1  Cor.  xiii.,  Col.  iii.  14,  and  many  other  places. 

“  Ans.  III.  —  The  number  of  the  afflicted  by  Satan  daily  increased, 
till  about  fifty  persons  were  thus  vexed  by  the  Devil.  This  gave  just 
ground  to  suspect  some  mistake. 

“Ans.  IV.  —  It  was  considerable,  that  nineteen  were  executed, 
and  all  denied  the  crime  to  the  death  ;  and  some  of  them  were  knowing 
persons,  and  had  before  this  been  accounted  blameless  livers.  And  it 
is  not  to  be  imagined  but  that,  if  all  had  been  guilty,  some  would  have 
had  so  much  tenderness  as  to  seek  mercy  for  their  souls  in  the  way  of 
confession,  and  sorrow  for  such  a  sin. 

“  Ans.  V.  —  When  this  prosecution  ceased,  the  Lord  so  chained 
up  Satan,  that  the  afflicted  grew  presently  well :  the  accused  are 
generally  quiet,  and  for  five  years  since  we  have  no  such  molestation 
by  them.” 

Such  reasonings  as  these  found  their  way  into  the  minds  of  the 
whole  community ;  and  it  became  the  melancholy  conviction  of  all 
candid  and  considerate  persons  that  innocent  blood  had  been  shed. 
Standing  where  we  do,  with  the  lights  that  surround  us,  wre  look 
back  upon  the  whole  scene  as  an  awful  perversion  of  justice, 
reason,  and  truth. 

On  the  13th  of  June,  1700,  Abigail  Faulkner  presented  a  well- 
expressed  memorial  to  the  General  Court,  in  which  she  says  that 
her  pardon  “  so  far  had  its  effect,  as  that  I  am  yet  suffered  to  live, 
but  this  only  as  a  malefactor  convict  upon  record  of  the  most 
heinous  crimes  that  mankind  can  be  supposed  to  be  guilty  of;  ”  and 
prays  for  “  the  defacing  of  the  record”  against  her.  She  claims  it 
as  no  more  than  a  simple  act  of  justice ;  stating  that  the  evidence 
against  her  was  wholly  confined  to  the  “  afflicted,  who  pretended  to 
see  me  by  their  spectral  sight,  and  not  with  their  bodily  eyes.” 
That  “  the  jury  (upon  only  their  testimony)  brought  me  in  ‘  Guilty,’ 
and  the  sentence  of  death  was  passed  upon  me  ;  ”  and  that  it  had 
been  decided  that  such  testimony  was  of  no  value.  The  House  of 
Representatives  felt  the  force  of  her  appeal,  and  voted  that  “  the 
prayer  of  the  petitioner  be-granted.”  The  council  declined  to  con¬ 
cur,  but  addressed  “His  Excellency  to  grant  the  petitioner  His 
Majesty’s  gracious  pardon ;  and  His  Excellency  expressed  Ilis 
readiness  to  grant  the  same.”  Some  adverse  influence,  it  seemed, 
prevailed  to  prevent  it. 

On  the  18th  of  March,  1702,  another  petition  was  presented  to 


SUPPLEMENT. 


477 


the  General  Court,  by  persons  of  Andover,  Salem  Village,  and 
Topsfield,  who  had  suffered  imprisonment  and  condemnation, 
and  by  the  relations  of  others  who  had  been  condemned  and 
executed  on  the  testimony,  as  they  say,  of  “  possessed  persons,” 
to  this  effect :  — 

“  Your  petitioners  being  dissatisfied  and  grieved  that  (besides  what 
the  condemned  persons  have  suffered  in  their  persons  and  estates) 
their  names  are  exposed  to  infamy  and  reproach,  while  their  trial  and 
condemnation  stands  upon  public  record,  we  therefore  humbly  pray 
this  honored  Court  that  something  may  be  publicly  done  to  take  off 
infamy  from  the  names  and  memory  of  those  who  have  suffered  as 
aforesaid,  that  none  of  their  surviving  relations  nor  their  posterity  may 
suffer  reproach  on  that  account.” 

[Signed  by  Francis  Faulkner,  Isaac  Easty,  Thorndike  Procter,  and 
eighteen  others.] 

On  the  20th  of  July,  in  answer  to  the  foregoing  petitions,  a 
bill  was  ordered  by  the  House  of  Representatives  to  be  drawn  up, 
forbidding  in  future  such  procedures,  as  in  the  witchcraft  trials 
of  1692;  declaring  that  “no  spectre  evidence  may  hereafter  be 
accounted  valid  or  sufficient  to  take  away  the  life  or  good  name 
of  any  person  or  persons  within  this  province,  and  that  the  infamy 
and  reproach  cast  on  the  names  and  posterity  of  said  accused  and 
condemned  persons  may  in  some  measure  be  rolled  away.”  The 
council  concurred  with  an  additional  clause,  to  acquit  all  con¬ 
demned  persons  “  of  the  penalties  to  which  they  are  liable  upon 
the  convictions  and  judgments  in  the  courts,  and  estate  them  in 
their  just  credit  and  reputation,  as  if  no  such  judgment  had  been 
had.” 

This  petition  was  re-enforced  by  an  “address”  to  the  General 
Court,  dated  July  8,  1703,  by  several  ministers  of  the  county 
of  Essex.  They  speak  of  the  accusers  in  the  witchcraft  trials  as 
“  young  persons  under  diabolical  molestations,”  and  express  this 
sentiment:  “  There  is  great  reason  to  fear  that  innocent  persons 
then  suffered,  and  that  God  may  have  a  controversy  with  the  land 
upon  that  account.”  They  earnestly  beg  that  the  prayer  of  the 
petitioners,  lately  presented,  may  be  granted.  This  petition  was 
signed  by  Thomas  Barnard,  of  Andover;  Joseph  Green,  of  Salem 
Village;  William  Hubbard,  John  Wise,  John  Rogers,  and  Jabez 


478 


SALEM*  WITCHCRAFT. 


Fitch,  of  Ipswich ;  Benjamin  Rolfe,  of  Haverhill ;  Samuel  Cheever, 
of  Marblehead ;  Joseph  Gerrish,  of  Wenham;  Joseph  Capen,  of 
Topsfield  ;  Zecliariah  Symmes,  of  Bradford  ;  and  Thomas  Symmes, 
of  Boxford.  Francis  Dane,  of  Andover,  had  died  six  years  before. 
John  Hale,  of  Beverly,  had  died  three  years  before.  The  great 
age  of  John  Higginson,  of  Salem, — eighty-seven  years, — prob¬ 
ably  prevented  the  papers  being  handed  to  him.  It  is  observable, 
that  Nicholas  Noyes,  his  colleague,  is  not  among  the  signers. 

What  prevented  action,  we  do  not  know ;  but  nothing  was 
done.  Six  years  afterwards,  on  the  2oth  of  May,  1709,  an  “  hum¬ 
ble  address  ”  was  presented  to  the  General  Court  by  certain 
inhabitants  of  the  province,  some  of  whom  “had  their  near  re¬ 
lations,  either  parents  or  others,  who  suffered  death  in  the  dark 
and  doleful  times  that  passed  over  this  province  in  1692;”  and 
others  “who  themselves,  or  some  of  their  relations,  were  impris¬ 
oned,  impaired  and  blasted  in  their  reputations  and  estates  by  rea¬ 
son  of  the  same.”  They  pray  for  the  passage  of  a  “  suitable  act” 
to  restore  the  reputations  of  the  sufferers,  and  to  make  some  re¬ 
muneration  “  as  to  what  they  have  been  damnified  in  their  estates 
thereby.”  This  paper  was  signed  by  Philip  English  and  twenty- 
one  others.  Philip  English  gave  in  an  account  in  detail  of  what 
articles  were  seized  and  carried  away,  at  the  time  of  his  arrest, 
from  four  of  his  warehouses,  his  wharf,  and  shop-house,  besides 
the  expenses  incurred  in  prison,  and  in  escaping  from  it.  It 
appears  by  this  statement,  that  he  and  his  wife  were  nine  weeks  in 
jail  at  Salem  and  Boston.  Nothing  was  done  at  this  session. 
The  next  year,  Sept.  12,  1710,  Isaac  Easty  presented  a  strong 
memorial  to  the  General  Court  in  reference  to  his  case.  He  calls 
for  some  remuneration.  In  speaking  of  the  arrest  and  execution 
of  his  “  beloved  wife,”  he  says  “  my  sorrow  and  trouble  of  heart  in 
being  deprived  of  her  in  such  a  manner,  which  this  world  can 
never  make  me  any  compensation  for.”  At  the  same  time,  the 
daughters  of  Elizabeth  How,  the  son  of  Sarah  Wildes,  the  heirs  of 
Mary  Bradbury,  Edward  Bishop  and  his  wife  Sarah,  sent  in 
severally  similar  petitions,  —  all  in  earnest  and  forcible  language. 
Charles,  one  of  the  sons  of  George  Burroughs,  presented  the  case 
of  his  “  dear  and  honored  father;  ”  declaring  that  his  innocence  of 
the  crime  of  which  he-  was  accused,  and  his  excellence  of  character, 
were  shown  in  “his  careful  catechising  his  children,  and  upholding 


SUPPLEMENT. 


479 


religion  in  his  family,  and  by  his  solemn  and  savory  written  in¬ 
structions  from  prison.”  He  describes  in  affecting  details  the 
condition  in  which  his  father’s  family  of  little  children  was  left  at 
his  death.  One  of  Mr.  Burroughs’s  daughters,  upon  being  re¬ 
quired  to  sign  a  paper  in  reference  to  compensation,  expresses  her 
distress  of  mind  in  these  words  :  “  Every  discourse  on  this  melan¬ 
choly  subject  doth  but  give  a  fresh  wound  to  my  bleeding  heart. 
I  desire  to  sit  down  in  silence.”  John  Moulton,  in  behalf  of  the 
family  of  Giles  Corey,  says  that  they  “  cannot  sufficiently  express 
their  grief”  for  the  death,  in  such  a  manner,  of  “their  honored 
father  and  mother.”  Samuel  Nurse,  in  behalf  of  his  brothers  and 
sisters,  says  that  their  “honored  and  dear  mother  had  led  a 
blameless  life  from  her  youth  up.  .  .  .  Her  name  and  the  name  of 
her  posterity  lies  under  reproach,  the  removing  of  which  reproach 
is  the  principal  thing  wherein  we  desire  restitution.  And,  as  we 
know  not  how  to  express  our  loss  of  such  a  mother  in  such  a  way, 
so  we  know  not  how  to  compute  our  charge,  but  leave  it  to  the 
judgment  of  others,  and  shall  not  be  critical.”  lie  distinctly  in¬ 
timates,  that  they  do  not  wish  any  money  to  be  paid  them,  unless 
“  the  attainder  is  taken  off.”  Many  other  petitions  were  presented 
by  the  families  of  those  who  suffered,  all  in  the  same  spirit ;  and 
several  besides  the  Nurses  insisted  mainly  upon  the  “  taking  off 
the  attainder.” 

The  General  Court,  on  the  17th  of  October,  1710,  passed  an 
act,  that  “  the  several  convictions,  judgments,  and  attainders  be, 
and  hereby  are,  reversed,  and  declared  to  be  null  and  void.”  In 
simple  justice,  they  ought  to  have  extended  the  act  to  all  who  had 
suffered ;  but  they  confined  its  effect  to  those  in  reference  to 
whom  petitions  had  been  presented.  The  families  of  some  of 
them  had  disappeared,  or  may  not  have  had  notice  of  what  was 
sroinir  on  ;  so  that  the  sentence  which  the  Government  acknowledged 

0  0  7  O 

to  have  been  unjust  remains  to  this  day  unreversed  against  the 
names  and  memory  of  Bridget  Bishop,  Susanna  Martin,  Alice 
Parker.  Ann  Pudeator,  Wilmot  Read,  and  Margaret  Scott.  The 
stain  on  the  records  of  the  Commonwealth  has  never  been  fully 
effaced.  What  caused  this  dilatory  and  halting  course  on  the  part 
of  the  Government,  and  who  was  responsible  for  it,  cannot  be 
ascertained.  Since  the  presentation  of  Abigail  Faulkner’s  petition 
in  1700,  the  Legislature,  in  the  popular  branch  at  least,  and  the 


480 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


Governor,  appear  to  have  been  inclined  to  act  favorably  in  the  pre¬ 
mises  ;  but  some  power  blocked  the  way.  There  is  some  reason  to 
conjecture  that  it  was  the  influence  of  the  home  government.  Its 
consent  to  have  the  prosecutions  suspended,  in  1692,  was  not  very 
cordial,  but,  while  it  approved  of  “  care  and  circumspection  there¬ 
in,”  expressed  reluctance  to  allow  any  “impediment  to  the  ordi¬ 
nary  course  of  justice.” 

On  the  17th  of  December,  1711,  Governor  Dudley  issued  his 
warrant  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  a  vote  of  the  “General 
Assembly,”  “by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  Her  Majes¬ 
ty’s  Council,”  to  pay  “the  sum  of  £578.  12s.”  to  “such  persons 
as  are  living,  and  to  those  that  legally  represent  them  that  are 
dead  ;  ”  which  sum  was  divided  as  follows  :  — 


John  Procter  and  wife . £150  0  0 

George  Jacobs .  7900 

George  Burroughs .  50  0  0 

Sarah  Good .  80  0  0 

Giles  Corey  and  wife . 21  0  0 

Dorcas  Hoar . 21  17  0 

Abigail  Hobbs . 10  0  0 

Rebecca  Eames . 10  0  0 

Mary  Post .  8  14  0 

Mary  Lacy .  8100 

Ann  Foster .  6  10  0 

Samuel  Wardwell  and  wife . 86  15  0 

Rebecca  Nurse .  25  0  0 

Mary  Easty .  20  0  0 

Mary  Bradbury .  20  0  0 

Abigail  Faulkner .  20  0  0 

John  Willard . • .  20  0  0 

Sarah  Wildes . 14  0  0 

Elizabeth  How . 12  0  0 

Mary  Parker  j .  800 

Martha  Carrier .  760 


£578  12  0 


The  distribution,  as  above,  according  to  the  evidence  as  it  has 
come  down  to  us,  is  as  unjust  and  absurd  as  the  smallness  of  the 


SUPPLEMENT. 


481 


amount,  and  the  long  delay  before  it  was  ordered,  are  discredit¬ 
able  to  the  province.  One  of  the  larger  sums  was  allowed  to 
William  Good,  while  he  clearly  deserved  nothing,  as  he  was  an 
adverse  witness  in  the  examination  of  his  wife,  and  did  what  he 
could  to  promote  the  prosecution  against  her.  He  did  not,  it  is 
true,  swear  that  he  believed  her  to  be  a  witch ;  but  what  he  said 
tended  to  prejudice  the  magistrates  and  the  public  against  her. 
Benjamin  Putnam  acted  as  his  attorney,  and  received  the  money 
for  him.  Good  was  a  retainer  and  dependant  of  that  branch  of 
the  Putnam  family ;  and  its  influence  gave  him  so  large  a  propor¬ 
tionate  amount,  and  not  the  reason  or  equity  of  the  case.  More 
was  allowed  to  Abigail  Ilobbs,  a  very  malignant  witness  against 
the  prisoners,  than  to  the  families  of  several  who  were  executed. 
Nearly  twice  as  much  was  allowed  for  Abigail  Faulkner,  who  was 
pardoned,  as  for  Elizabeth  How,  who  was  executed.  The  sums 
allowed  in  the  cases  of  Parker,  Carrier,  and  Foster,  were  shame¬ 
fully  small.  The  public  mind  evidently  was  not  satisfied  ;  and  the 
Legislature  were  pressed  for  a  half-century  to  make  more  ade¬ 
quate  compensation,  and  thereby  vindicate  the  sentiment  of  jus¬ 
tice,  and  redeem  the  honor  of  the  province. 

On  the  8tli  of  December,  1738,  Major  Samuel  Sewall,  a  son  of 
the  Judge,  introduced  an  order  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  get.  information  relating  to 
“  the  circumstances  of  the  persons  and  families  who  suffered  in  the 
calamity  of  the  times  in  and  about  the  year  1G92.”  Major  Sewall 
entered  into  the  matter  with  great  zeal.  The  House  unanimously 
passed  the  order.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  ;  and,  on  the 
9th  of  December,  wrote  to  his  cousin  Mitchel  Sewall  in  Salem,  son 
of  Stephen,  earnestly  requesting  him  and  John  Higginson,  Esq., 
to  aid  in  accomplishing  the  object.  The  following  is  an  extract 
from  a  speech  delivered  by  Governor  Belcher  to  both  Houses  of 
the  Legislature,  Nov.  22,  1740.  It  is  honorable  to  his  memory. 

“  The  Legislature  have  often  honored  themselves  in  a  kind  and! 
generous  remembrance  of  such  families  and  of  the  posterity  of  such  as- 
have  been  sufferers,  either  in  their  persons  or  estates,  for  or  by  the 
Government,  of  which  the  public  records  will  give  you  many  instances. 
I  should  therefore  be  glad  there  might  be  a  committee  appointed  by 
this  Court  to  inquire  into  the  sufferings  of  the  people  called  Quakers, 
in  the  early  days  of  this  country,  as  also  into  the  descendants  of  such 

31 


VOL.  II. 


482 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


families  as  were  in  a  manner  ruined  in  the  mistaken  management  of 
the  terrible  affair  called  witchcraft.  I  really  think  there  is  something 
incumbent  on  this  Government  to  be  done  for  relieving  the  estates  and 
reputations  of  the  posterities  of  the  unhappy  families  that  so  suffered ; 
and  the  doing  it,  though  so  long  afterwards,  would  doubtless  be  accept¬ 
able  to  Almighty  God,  and  would  reflect  honor  upon  the  present 
Legislature.” 

On  the  31st  of  May,  1749,  the  heirs  of  George  Burroughs  ad¬ 
dressed  a  petition  to  Governor  Shirley  and  the  General  Court,  set¬ 
ting  forth  “  the  unparalleled  persecutions  and  sufferings”  of  their 
ancestor,  and  praying  for  “  some  recompense  from  this  Court  for 
the  losses  thereby  sustained  by  his  family.”  It  was  referred  to  a 
committee  of  both  Houses.  The  next  year,  the  petitioners  sent 
a  memorial  to  Governor  Spencer  Phips  and  the  General  Court, 
stating,  that  “it  hath  fell  out,  that  the  Hon.  Mr.  Danforth, 
chairman  of  the  said  committee,  had  not,  as  yet,  called  them  to¬ 
gether  so  much  as  once  to  act  thereon,  even  to  this  day,  as  some  of 
the  honorable  committee  themselves  were  pleased,  with  real  con¬ 
cern,  to  signify  to  your  said  petitioners.”  The  House  immediately 
passed  this  order:  “That  the  committee  within  referred  to  be 
directed  to  sit  forthwith,  consider  the  petition  to  them  committed, 
and  report  as  soon  as  may  be.” 

All  that  I  have  been  able  to  find,  as  the  result  of  these  long- 
delayed  and  long-protracted  movements,  is  a  statement  of  Dr. 
Bentley,  that  the  heirs  of  Philip  English  received  two  hundred 
pounds.  He  does  not  say  when  the  act  to  this  effect  was  passed. 
Perhaps  some  general  measui’e  of  the  kind  was  adopted,  the  rec¬ 
ord  of  which  I  have  failed  to  meet.  The  engrossing  interest  of 
the  then  pending  French  war,  and  of  the  vehement  dissensions 
that  led  to  the  Revolution,  probably  prevented  any  further  atten¬ 
tion  to  this  subject,  after  the  middle  of  the  last  century. 

It  is  apparent  from  the  foregoing  statements  and  records,  that 
while  many  individuals,  the  people  generally,  and  finally  Governor 
Belcher  and  the  House  of  Representatives  emphatically,  did  what 
they  could,  there  was  an  influence  that  prevailed  to  prevent  for  a 
long  time,  if  not  for  ever,  any  action  of  the  province  to  satisfy  the 
demands  made  by  justice  and  the  honor  of  the  country  in  repair¬ 
ing  the  great  wrongs  committed  by  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  branches  of  the  Government  in  1692.  The  only  bodies 


SUPPLEMENT. 


483 


of  men  who  fully  came  up  to  their  duty  on  the  occasion  were  the 
clergy  of  the  county,  and,  as  will  appear,  the  church  at  Salem 
Village. 

What  was  done  by  the  First  Church  in  Salem  is  shown  in  the 
following  extract  from  its  records  :  — ■ 

“March  2,  1712.  —  After  the  sacrament,  a  church-meeting  was  ap¬ 
pointed  to  be  at  the  teacher’s  house,  at  two  of  the  clock  in  the  after¬ 
noon,  on  the  sixth  of  the  month,  being  Thursday  :  on  which  day  they 
accordingly  met  to  consider  of  the  several  following  particulars  pro¬ 
pounded  to  them  by  the  teacher ;  viz. :  — 

“  1.  Whether  the  record  of  the  excommunication  of  our  Sister  Nurse 
(all  things  considered)  may  not  be  erased  and  blotted  out.  The  result 
of  which  consideration  was,  That  whereas,  on  July  3d,  1692,  it  was  pro¬ 
posed  by  the  Elders,  and  consented  to  by  an  unanimous  vote  of  the 
church,  that  our  Sister  Nurse  should  be  excommunicated,  she  being 
convicted  of  witchcraft  by  the  Court,  and  she  was  accordingly  ex¬ 
communicated,  since  which  the  General  Court  having  taken  off  the 
attainder,  and  the  testimony  on  which  she  was  convicted  being  not 
now  so  satisfactory  to  ourselves  and  others  as  it  was  generally  in  that 
hour  of  darkness  and  temptation ;  and  we  being  solicited  by  her  son, 
Mr.  Samuel  Nurse,  to  erase  and  blot  out  of  the  church  records  the 
sentence  of  her  excommunication,  —  this  church,  having  the  matter 
proposed  to  them  by  the  teacher,  and  having  seriously  considered  it, 
doth  consent  that  the  record  of  our  Sister  Nurse’s  excommunication 
be  accordingly  erased  and  blotted  out,  that  it  may  no  longer  be  a 
reproach  to  her  memory,  and  an  occasion  of  grief  to  her  children. 
Humbly  recpiesting  that  the  merciful  God  would  pardon  whatsoever 
sin,  error,  or  mistake  was  in  the  application  of  that  censure  and  of 
that  whole  affair,  through  our  merciful  Iligh-priest,  who  knoweth  how 
to  have  compassion  on  the  ignorant,  and  those  that  are  out  of  the 
way. 

“  2.  It  was  proposed  whether  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
against  our  Brother  Giles  Corey  (all  things  considered)  may  not  be 
erased  and  blotted  out.  The  result  was,  That  whereas,  on  Sept.  18, 
1692,  it  was  considered  by  the  church,  that  our  Brother  Giles  Corey 
stood  accused  of  and  indicted  for  the  sin  of  witchcraft,  and  that  he 
had  obstinately  refused  to  plead,  and  so  threw  himself  on  certain 
death.  It  was  agreed  by  the  vote  of  the  church,  that  he  should  be 
excommunicated  for  it;  and  accordingly  he  was  excommunicated. 
Yet  the  church,  having  now  testimony  in  his  behalf,  that,  before  his 
death,  he  did  bitterly  repent  of  his  obstinate  refusal  to  plead  in  defence 


484 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


of  his  life,  do  consent  that  the  sentence  of  his  excommunication  be 
erased  and  blotted  out.” 

It  will  be  noticed  that  these  proceedings  were  not  had  at  a 
regular  public  meeting,  but  at  a  private  meeting  of  the  church,  on 
a  week-day  afternoon,  at  the  teacher’s  house.  The  motives  that 
led  to  them  were  a  disposition  to  comply  with  the  act  of  the 
General  Court,  and  the  solicitations  of  Mr.  Samuel  Nurse,  rather 
than  a  profound  sense  of  wrong  done  to  a  venerable  member  of 
their  own  body,  who  had  claims  upon  their  protection  as  such. 
The  language  of  the  record  does  not  frankly  admit  absolutely  that 
there  was  sin,  error,  or  mistake,  but  requests  forgiveness  for 
whatsoever  there  may  have  been.  The  character  of  Rubecca 
Nurse,  and  the  outrageous  treatment  she  had  received  from  that 
church,  in  the  method  arranged  for  her  excommunication,  de¬ 
manded  something  more  than  these  hypothetical  expressions,  with 
such  a  preamble. 

The  statement  made  in  the  vote  about  Corey  is,  on  its  face,  a 
misrepresentation.  From  the  nature  of  the  proceeding  by  which 
he  was  destroyed,  it  was  in  his  power,  at  any  moment,  if  he 
“  repented  of  his  obstinate  refusal  to  plead,”  by  saying  so,  to  be 
instantly  released  from  the  pressure  that  was  crushing  him.  The 
only  design  of  the  torture  was  to  make  him  bring  it  to  an  end  by 
“answering”  guilty,  or  not  guilty.  Somebody  fabricated  the 
slander  that  Corey’s  resolution  broke  down  under  his  agonies,  and 
that  he  bitterly  repented;  and  Mr.  Noyes  put  the  foolish  scandal 
upon  the  records  of  the  church. 

The  date  of  this  transaction  is  disreputable  to  the  people  of 
Salem.  Twenty  years  had  been  suffered  to  elapse,  and  a  great 
outrage  allowed  to  remain  unacknowledged  and  unrepented.  The 
credit  of  doing  what  was  done  at  last  probably  belongs  to  the  Rev. 
George  Corwin.  His  call  to  the  ministry,  as  colleague  with  Mr. 
Noyes,  had  just  been  consummated.  The  introduction  of  a  new 
minister  heralded  a  new  policy,  and  the  proceedings  have  the 
appearance  of  growing  out  of  the  kindly  and  auspicious  feelings 
which  generally  attend  and  welcome  such  an  era. 

The  Rev.  George,  son  of  Jonathan  Corwin,  was  born  May 
21,  1C83,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1701.  Mr. 
Barnard,  of  Marblehead,  describes  his  character:  “The  spirit  of 


SUPPLEMENT. 


485 


early  devotion,  accompanied  with  a  natural  freedom  of  thought 
and  easy  elocution,  a  quick  invention,  a  solid  judgment,  and  a 
tenacious  memory,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  good  preacher;  to 
which  his  acquired  literature,  his  great  reading,  hard  studies,  deep 
meditation,  and  close  walk  with  God,  rendered  him  an  able  and 
faithful  minister  of  the  New  Testament.”  The  records  of  the 
First  Church,  in  noticing  his  death,  thus  speak  of  him :  “  lie  was 
highly  esteemed  in  his  life,  and  very  deservedly  lamented  at  his 
death ;  having  been  very  eminent  for  his  early  improvement  in 
learning  and  piety,  his  singular  abilities  and  great  labors,  his 
remarkable  zeal  and  faithfulness.  He  was  a  great  benefactor  to 
our  poor.”  Those  bearing  the  name  of  Curwen  among  us  are  his 
descendants.  He  died  Nov.  23,  1717. 

The  Rev.  Nicholas  Noyes  died  Dec.  13,  1717.  lie  was  a 
person  of  superior  talents  and  learning.  lie  published,  with  the 
sermon  preached  by  Cotton  Mather  on  the  occasion,  a  poem  on 
the  death  of  his  venerable  colleague,  Mr.  Higginson,  in  1708  ;  and 
also  a  poem  on  the  death  of  Rev.  Joseph  Green,  in  1715.  Al¬ 
though  an  amiable  and  benevolent  man  in  other  respects,  it  can¬ 
not  be  denied  that  he  was  misled  by  his  errors  and  his  tempera¬ 
ment  into  the  most  violent  course  in  the  witchcraft  prosecutions ; 
and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  his  feelings  were  never  wholly  rectified 
in  reference  to  that  transaction. 

Jonathan,  the  father  of  the  Rev.  George  Corwin,  and  whose 
part  as  a  magistrate  and  judge  in  the  examinations  and  trials 
of  1692  has  been  seen,  died  on  the  9th  of  July,  1718,  seventy- 
eight  years  of  age. 

It  only  remains  to  record  the  course  of  the  village  church  and 
people  in  reference  to  the  events  of  1692.  After  six  persons,  in¬ 
cluding  Rebecca  Nurse,  had  suffered  death  ;  and  while  five  others, 
George  Burroughs,  John  Procter,  John  Willard,  George  Jacobs, 
and  Martha  Carrier,  were  awaiting  their  execution,  which  was  to 
take  place  on  the  coming  Friday,  Aug.  19,  —  the  facts,  related  as 
follows  by  Mr.  Parris  in  his  record-book,  occurred :  — 

“Sabbath-day,  14th  August,  1692. — The  church  was  stayed  after 
the  congregation  was  dismissed,  and  the  pastor  spake  to  the  church 
after  this  manner :  — 

“  ‘  Brethren,  you  may  all  have  taken  notice,  that,  several  sacrament 
days  past,  our  brother  Peter  Cloyse,  and  Samuel  Nurse  and  his  wife, 


486 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


and  John  Tarbell  and  his  wife,  have  absented  from  communion  with 
us  at  the  Lord’s  Table,  yea,  have  very  rarely,  except  our  brother 
Samuel  Nurse,  'been  with  us  in  common  public  worship :  now,  it  is 
needful  that  the  church  send  some  persons  to  them  to  know  the 
reason  of  their  absence.  Therefore,  if  you  be  so  minded,  express 
yourselves/ 

“  None  objected.  But  a  general  or  universal  vote,  after  some  dis¬ 
course,  passed,  that  Brother  Nathaniel  Putnam  and  the  two  deacons 
should  join  with  the  pastor  to  discourse  with  the  said  absenters 
about  it. 

“  31st  August. — Brother  Tarbell  proves  sick,  unmeet  for  discourse  ; 
Brother  Cloyse  hard  to  be  found  at  home,  being  often  with  his  wife  in 
prison  at  Ipswich  for  witchcraft;  and  Brother  Nurse,  and  sometimes  his 
wife,  attends  our  public  meeting,  and  he  the  sacrament,  11th  Septem¬ 
ber,  1692  :  upon  all  which  we  choose  to  wait  further.” 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  individuals  aimed  at  all  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  whose  execution  had  taken  place 
three  weeks  before  under  circumstances  with  which  Mr.  Parris 
had  been  so  prominently  and  responsibly  connected,  this  proceed¬ 
ing  must  be  felt  by  every  person  of  ordinary  human  sensibilities 
to  have  been  cruel,  barbarous,  and  unnatural.  Parris  made  the 
entry  in  his  book,  as  he  often  did,  some  time  after  the  transaction, 
as  the  inserted  date  of  Sept.  11,  shows.  What  his  object  was 
in  commencing  disciplinary  treatment  of  this  distressed  family  is 
not  certain.  It  may  be  that  he  was  preparing  to  get  up  such  a 
feeling  against  them  as  would  make  it  sale  to  have  the  “  afflicted” 
cry  out  upon  some  of  them.  Or  it  may  be*  that  he  wished  to  get 
them  out  of  his  church,  to  avoid  the  possibility  of  their  proceeding 
against  him,  by  ecclesiastical  methods,  at  some  future  day.  lie 
could  not,  however,  bring  his  church  to  continue  the  process. 
This  is  the  first  indication  that  the  brethren  were  no  longer  to  be 
relied  on  by  him  to  go  all  lengths,  and  that  some  remnants  of 
good  feeling  and  good  sense  were  to  be  found  among  them. 

But  Mr.  Parris  was  determined  not  to  allow  the  public  feeling 
against  persons  charged  with  witchcraft  to  subside,  if  he  could  help 
it ;  and  he  made  one  more  effort  to  renew  the  vehemence  of  the 
prosecutions.  He  prepared  and  preached  two  sermons,  on  the 
11th  of  September,  from  the  text,  Rev.  xvii.  11 :  “  These  shall  make 
war  with  the  Lamb,  and  the  Lamb  shall  overcome  them  :  for  he  is 


SUPPLEMENT. 


487 


Lord  of  lords,  and  King  of  kings ;  and  they  that  are  with  him  are 
called  and  chosen  and  faithful.”  They  are  entitled,  “The 
Devil  and  his  instruments  will  be  warring  against  Christ  and  his 
followers.”  This  note  is  added,  “After  the  condemnation  of  six 
witches  at  a  court  at  Salem,  one  of  the  witches,  viz.,  Martha 
Corey,  in  full  communion  with  our  church.”  The  following  is  a 
portion  of  “the  improvement”  in  the  application  of  these  dis¬ 
courses  :  — 

“  It  may  serve  to  reprove  such  as  seem  to  be  so  amazed  at  the  war 
the  Devil  has  raised  amongst  us  by  wizards  and  witches,  against  the 
Lamb  and  his  followers,  that  they  altogether  deny  it.  If  ever  there 
were  witches,  men  and  women  in  covenant  with  the  Devil,  here  are 
multitudes  in  New  England.  Nor  is  it  so  strange  a  thing  that  there 
should  be  such ;  no,  nor  that  some  church-members  should  be  such. 
Pious  Bishop  Hall  saith,  ‘  The  Devil’s  prevalency  in  this  age  is  most 
clear  in  the  marvellous  number  of  witches  abounding  in  all  places. 
Now  hundreds  (says  he)  are  discovered  in  one  shire;  and,  if  fame 
deceive  us  not,  in  a  village  of  fourteen  houses  in  the  north  are  found 
so  many  of  this  damned  brood.  Heretofore,  only  barbarous  deserts 
had  them;  but  now  the  civilized  and  religious  parts  are  frequently 
pestered  with  them.  Heretofore,  some  silly,  ignorant  old  woman,  &c. ; 
but  now  we  have  known  those  of  both  sexes  who  professed  much 
knowledge,  holiness,  and  devotion,  drawn  into  this  damnable  prac¬ 
tice.’  ” 

The  foregoing  extract  is  important  as  showing  that  some  per¬ 
sons  at  the  village  had  begun  to  express  their  disbelief  of  the 
witchcraft  doctrine  of  Mr.  Parris,  “altogether  denying  it.”  The 
title  and  drift  of  the  sermons  in  connection  with  the  date,  and  his 
proceedings,  the  month  before,  against  Samuel  Nurse,  Tarbell, 
and  Cloyso,  members  of  his  church,  give  color  to  the  idea  that  he 
was  designing  to  have  them  “cried  out”  against,  and  thus  dis- 
posed  of.  It  is  a  noticeable  fact,  that,  about  this  time,  Cotton 
Mather  was  also  laying  his  plans  for  a  renewal,  or  rather  continu¬ 
ance,  of  witchcraft  prosecutions.  Nine  days  after  these  sermons 
were  preached  by  Parris,  Mather  wrote  the  following  letter  to 
Stephen  Sewall  of  Salem :  — 

Boston,  Sept.  20, 1692. 

My  dear  and  my  very  obliging  Stephen,  —  It  is  my  hap  to 
be  continually  .  .  .  with  all  sorts  of  objections,  and  objectors  against 
the  .  .  .  work  now  doing  at  Salem ;  and  it  is  my  further  good  hap  to 
do  some  little  service  for  God  and  you  in  my  encounters. 


488 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


But  that  I  may  be  the  more  capable  to  assist  in  lifting  up  a  stan¬ 
dard  against  the  infernal  enemy,  I  must  renew  my  most  importunate 
request,  that  you  would  please  quickly  to  perform  what  you  kindly 
promised,  of  giving  me  a  narrative  of  the  evidences  given  in  at  the 
trials  of  half  a  dozen,  or  if  you  please  a  dozen,  of  the  principal  witches 
that  have  been  condemned.  I  know  'twill  cost  you  some  time  ;  but, 
when  you  are  sensible  of  the  benefit  that  will  follow,  I  know  you  will 
not  think  much  of  that  cost ;  and  my  own  willingness  to  expose  myself 
unto  the  utmost  for  the  defence  of  my  friends  with  you  makes  me 
presume  to  plead  something  of  merit  to  be  considered. 

I  shall  be  content,  if. you  draw  up  the  desired  narrative  by  way 
of  letter  to  me;  or,  at  least,  let  it  not  come  without  a  letter,  wherein 
you  shall,  if  you  can,  intimate  over  again  what  you  have  sometimes 
told  me  of  the  awe  which  is  upon  the  hearts  of  your  juries,  with  .  .  . 
unto  the  validity  of  the  spectral  evidences. 

Please  also  to  .  .  .  some  of  your  observations  about  the  confessors 
and  the  credibility  of  what  they  assert,  or  about  things  evidently 
preternatural  in  the  witchcrafts,  and  whatever  else  you  may  account 
an  entertainment,  for  an  inquisitive  person,  that  entirely  loves  you 
and  Salem.  Nay,  though  I  will  never  lay  aside  the  character  which 
I  mentioned  in  my  last  words,  yet  I  am  willing,  that,  when  you  write, 
you  should  imagine  me  as  obstinate  a  Sadducee  and  witch-advocate 
as  any  among  us  :  address  me  as  one  that  believed  nothing  reasonable  ; 
and  when  you  have  so  knocked  me  down,  in  a  spectre  so  unlike  me, 
you  will  enable  me  to  box  it  about  among  my  neighbors,  till  it  come  — 
I  know  not  where  at  last. 

But  assure  yourself,  as  I  shall  not  wittingly  make  what  you  write 
prejudicial  to  any  worthy  design  which  those  two  excellent  persons, 
Mr.  Hale  and  Mr.  Noyse,  may  have  in  hand ;  so  you  shall  find  that  I 
shall  be,  sir,  your  grateful  friend,  C.  Mather. 

P.  S.  —  That  which  very  much  strengthens  the  charms  of  the 
request  which  this  letter  makes  you  is,  that  Ilis  Excellency  the 
Governor  laid  his  positive  commands  upon  me  to  desire  this  favor  of 
you ;  and  the  truth  is,  there  are  some  of  his  circumstances  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  this  affair,  which  I  need  not  mention,  that  call  for  the  expedit¬ 
ing  of  your  kindness,  —  kindness,  I  say,  for  such  it  will  be  esteemed  as 
well  by  him  as  by  your  servant,  C.  Mather. 

In  order  to  understand  the  character  and  aim  of  this  letter,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  consider  its  date.  It  was  written  Sept.  20, 
1692.  On  the  19th  of  August,  but  one  month  before,  Dr.  Mather 


SUPPLEMENT. 


489 


was  acting  a  conspicuous  part  under  the  gallows  at  Witch-hill,  at 
the  execution  of  Mr.  Burroughs  and  four  others,  increasing  the 
power  of  the  awful  delusion,  and  inflaming  the  passions  of  the  peo¬ 
ple.  On  the  9th  of  September,  six  more  miserable  creatures  re¬ 
ceived  sentence  of  death.  On  the  17th  of  September,  nine  more 
received  sentence  of  death.  On  the  19th  of  September,  Giles  Cory 
was  crushed  to  death.  And,  on  the  22d  of  September,  eight  were 
executed.  These  were  the  last  that  suffered  death.  The  letter, 
therefore,  was  written  while  the  horrors  of  the  transaction  were  at 
their  height,  and  by  a  person  who  had  himself  been  a  witness  of 
them,  and  whose  “  good  hap”  it  had  been  to  “  do  some  little  ser¬ 
vice”  in  promoting  them.  The  object  of  the  writer  is  declared  to 
be,  that  he  might  be  “  more  capable  to  assist  in  lifting  up  a  stand¬ 
ard  against  the  infernal  enemy.”  The  literal  meaning  of  this 
expression  is,  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  get  up  another  witch¬ 
craft  delusion  under  his  own  special  management  and  control. 
Can  any  thing  be  imagined  more  artful  and  dishonest  than  the 
plan  he  had  contrived  to  keep  himself  out  of  sight  in  all  the  opera¬ 
tions  necessary  to  accomplish  his  purpose?  “Nay,  though  I  will 
never  lay  aside  the  character  which  I  mentioned  in  my  last  words, 
yet  I  am  willing,  that,  when  you  write,  you  should  imagine  me  as 
obstinate  a  Sadducee  and  witch-advocate  as  any  among  us  :  ad¬ 
dress  me  as  one  that  believed  nothing  reasonable  ;  and  when  you 
have  so  knocked  me  down,  in  a  spectre  so  unlike  me,  you  will 
enable  me  to  box  it  about  among  my  neighbors,  till  it  come  —  I 
know  not  where  at  last.” 

Upon  obtaining  the  document  requisite  to  the  fulfilment  of  his 
design,  he  did  “  box  it  about”  so  effectually  among  his  neighbors, 
that  he  succeeded  that  next  summer  in  getting  up  a  wonderful 
case  of  witchcraft,  in  the  person  of  one  Margaret  Rule,  a  member 
of  his  congregation  in  Boston.  Dr.  Mather  published  an  account 
of  her  long-continued  fastings,  even  unto  the  ninth  day,  and  of  the 
incredible  sufferings  she  endured  from  the  “infernal  enemy.” 
“  She  was  thrown,”  says  he,  “  into  such  exorbitant  convulsions  as 
were  astonishing  to  the  spectators  in  general.  They  that  could 
behold  the  doleful  condition  of  the  poor  family  without  sensible 
compassions  might  have  entrails,  indeed,  but  I  am  sure  they 
could  have  no  true  bowels  in  them.”  So  far  was  he  successful  in 
spreading  the  delusion,  that  he  prevailed  upon  six  men  to  testify 


490 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


that  they  had  seen  Margaret  Rule  lifted  bodily  from  her  bed,  and 
raised  by  an  invisible  power  “so  as  to  touch  the  garret  tloor;” 
that  she  was  entirely  removed  from  the  bed  or  any  other  material 
support ;  that  she  continued  suspended  tor  several  minutes ;  and 
that  a  strong  man,  assisted  by  several  other  persons,  could  not 
effectually  resist  the  mysterious  force  that  lifted  her  up,  and 
poised  her  aloft  in  the  air !  The  people  of  Boston  were  saved 
from  the  horrors  intended  to  be  brought  upon  them  by  this  dark 
and  deep-laid  plot,  by  the  activity,  courage,  and  discernment  of 
Calef  and  others,  who  distrusted  Dr.  Mather,  and,  by  watching 
his  movements,  exposed  the  imposture,  and  overthrew  the  whole 
design. 

Mr.  Parris  does  not  appear  to  have  produced  much  effect  by 
his  sermons.  The  people  had  suffered  enough  from  the  “war 
between  the  Devil  and  the  Lamb,”  as  he  and  Mather  had  con¬ 
ducted  it ;  and  it  could  not  be  renewed. 

Immediately  upon  the  termination  of  the  witchcraft  proceed¬ 
ings,  the  controversy  between  Mr.  Parris  and  the  congregation, 
or  the  inhabitants,  as  they  were  called,  of  the  village,  was  renewed, 
with  earnest  resolution  on  their  part  to  get  rid  of  him.  The  parish 
neglected  and  refused  to  raise  the  means  for  paying  his  salary ; 
and  a  majority  of  the  voters,  in  the  meetings  of  the  “inhabitants,” 
vigilantly  resisted  all  attempts  in  his  favor.  The  church  was  still 
completely  under  his  influence ;  and,  as  has  been  stated  in  the 
First  Part,  lie  made  use  of  that  body  to  institute  a  suit  against 
the  people.  The  court  and  magistrates  were  wholly  in  his  favor, 
and  peremptorily  ordered  the  appointment,  by  the  people,  of  a 
new  committee.  The  inhabitants  complied  with  the  order  by  the 
election  of  a  new  committee,  but  took  care  to  have  it  composed 
exclusively  of  men  opposed  to  Mr.  Parris ;  and  he  found  himself 
no  better  off  than  before.  He  concluded  not  to  employ  his  church 
any  longer  as  a  principal  agent  in  his  lawsuit  against  the  parish ; 
but  used  it  for  another  purpose. 

After  the  explosion  of  the  witchcraft  delusion,  the  relations  of 
parties  became  entirely  changed.  The  prosecutors  at  the  trials 
were  put  on  the  defensive,  and  felt  themselves  in  peril.  Parris 
saw  his  danger,  and,  with  characteristic  courage  and  fertility  of 
resources,  prepared  to  defend  himself,  and  carry  the  war  upon 
any  quarter  from  which  an  attack  might  be  apprehended.  He 


SUPPLEMENT. 


491 


continued,  on  bis  own  responsibility,  to  prosecute,  in  court,  bis 
suit  against  tbe  parish,  and  in  bis  usual  trenchant  style.  As  the 
law  then  was,  a  minister,  in  a  controversy  with  bis  parish,  bad  a 
secure  advantage,  and  absolutely  commanded  tbe  situation,  if  bis 
church  were  with  him.  From  tbe  time  of  bis  settlement,  Parris 
had  shaped  bis  policy  on  this  basis.  He  bad  sought  to  make  bis 
church  an  impregnable  fortress  against  bis  opponents.  But,  to  be 
impregnable,  it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be  no  enemies 
within  it.  A  few  disaffected  brethren  could  at  any  time  demand, 
and  have  a  claim  to,  a  mutual  council ;  and  Mr.  Parris  knew, 
that,  before  tbe  investigations  of  such  a  council,  bis  actions  in  tbe 
witchcraft  prosecutions  could  not  stand.  This  perhaps  suggested 
bis  movements,  in  August,  1692,  against  Samuel  Nurse,  John  Tar- 
bell,  and  Peter  Cloyse.  He  did  not  at  that  time  succeed  in 
getting  rid  of  them ;  and  they  remained  in  tbe  church,  and,  with 
tbe  exception  of  Cloyse,  in  tbe  village.  They  might  at  any  time 
take  the  steps  that  would  lead  to  a  mutual  council ;  and  Mr.  Parris 
was  determined,  at  all  events,  to  prevent  that.  It  was  evident 
that  tbe  members  of  that  family  would  insist  upon  satisfaction 
being  given  them,  in  and  through  tbe  church,  for  tbe  wrongs  be 
had  done  them.  Although,  in  tbe  absence  of  Cloyse,  but  two  in 
number,  there  was  danger  that  sympathy  for  them  might  reach 
others  of  tbe  brethren.  Thomas  Wilkins,  a  member  in  good  stand¬ 
ing,  son  of  old  Bray  Wilkins,  and  a  connection  of  John  Willard, 
an  intelligent  and  resolute  man,  bad  already  joined  them.  Parris 
felt  that  others  might  follow,  and  that  whatever  could  be  done  to 
counteract  them  must  be  done  quickly.  lie  accordingly  initiated 
proceedings  in  his  church  to  rid  himself  of  them,  if  not  by  excom¬ 
munication,  at  least  by  getting  them  under  discipline,  so  as  to 
prevent  the  possibility  of  their  dealing  with  him. 

This  led  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  passages  of  the  kind 
in  the  annals  of  the  New-England  churches.  It  is  narrated  in 
detail  by  Mr.  Parris,  in  his  church  record-book.  It  would  not 
be  easy  to  find  anywhere  an  example  of  greater  skill,  wariness, 
or  ability  in  a  conflict  of  this  sort.  On  the  one  side  is  Air.  Parris, 
backed  by  his  church  and  the  magistrates,  and  aided,  it  is  prob¬ 
able,  by  Mr.  Noyes  ;  on  the  other,  three  husbandmen.  They  had 
no  known  backers  or  advisers ;  and,  at  frequent  stages  of  the 
fencing  match,  had  to  parry  or  strike,  without  time  to  consult  any 


492 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


one.  Mi’.  Parris  was  ingenious,  quick,  a  great  strategist,  and  not 
over-scrupulous  as  to  the  use  of  his  weapons.  Nurse,  Tarbell, 
and  Wilkins  were  cautious,  cool,  steady,  and  persistent.  Of 
course,  they  were  wholly  inexperienced  in  such  things,  and  liable 
to  make  wrong  moves,  or  to  be  driven  or  drawn  to  untenable 
ground.  But  they  will  not  be  found,  I  think,  to  have  taken  a  false 
step  from  beginning  to  end.  Their  line  of  action  was  extremely 
narrow.  It  was  necessary  to  avoid  all  personalities,  and  every 
appearance  of  passion  or  excitement ;  to  make  no  charge  against 
Mr.  Parris  that  could  touch  the  church,  as  such,  or  reflect  upon  the 
courts,  magistrates,  or  any  others  that  had  taken  part  in  the  prose¬ 
cutions.  It  was  necessary  to  avoid  putting  any  thing  into  writing, 
with  their  names  attached,  which  could  in  any  way  be  tortured 
into  a  libel.  Parris  lets  fall  expressions  which  show  that  he  was 
on  the  watch  for  something  of  the  kind  to  seize  upon,  to  transfer 
the  movement  from  the  church  to  the  courts.  Entirely  unaccus¬ 
tomed  to  public  speaking,  these  three  farmers  had  to  meet  assem¬ 
blages  composed  of  their  opponents,  and  much  wrought  up  against 
them ;  to  make  statements,  and  respond  to  interrogatories  and 
propositions,  the  full  and  ultimate  bearing  of  which  was  not  always 
apparent :  any  unguarded  expression  might  be  fatal  to  their  cause. 
Their  safety  depended  upon  using  the  right  word  at  the  right  time 
and  in  the  right  manner,  and  in  withholding  the  statement  of  their 
grievances,  in  adequate  force  of  language,  until  they  were  under 
the  shelter  of  a  council.  If,  during  the  long-protracted  confe¬ 
rences  and  communications,  they  had  tripped  at  any  point,  allowed 
a  phrase  or  syllable  to  escape  which  might  be  made  the  ground  of 
discipline  or  censure,  all  would  be  lost ;  for  Parris  could  not  be 
reached  but  through  a  council,  and  a  council  could  not  even 
be  asked  for  except  by  brethren  in  full  and  clear  standing.  It 
was  often  attempted  to  ensnare  them  into  making  charges  against 
the  church ;  but  they  kept  their  eye  on  Parris,  and,  as  they  told 
him  more  than  once  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
people,  on  him  alone.  Limited  as  the  ground  was  on  which  thpy 
could  stand,  they  held  it  steadfastly,  and  finally  drove  him  from 
his  stronghold. 

On  the  first  movement  of  Mr.  Parris' offensively  upon  them, 
they  commenced  their  movement  upon  him.  The  method  by 
which  alone  they  could  proceed,  according  to  ecclesiastical  law 


SUPPLEMENT. 


493 


* 


and  tlie  platform  of  the  churches,  was  precisely  as  it  was  under¬ 
stood  to  be  laid  down  in  Matt,  xviii.  15-17.  Following  these 
directions,  Samuel  Nurse  first  called  alone  upon  Mr.  Farris,  and 
privately  made  known  his  grievances.  Parris  gave  him  no  satis¬ 
faction.  Then,  after  a  due  interval,  Nurse,  Tarbell,  and  Wilkins 
called  upon  him  together.  lie  refused  to  see  them  together,  but 
one  at  a  time  was  allowed  to  go  up  into  his  study.  Tarbell  and 
Nurse  each  spent  an  hour  or  more  with  him,  leaving  no  time  for 
Wilkins.  In  these  interviews,  he  not  only  failed  to  give  satisfac¬ 
tion,  but,  according  to  his-  own  account,  treated  them  in  the  cool¬ 
est  and  most  unfeeling  manner,  not  allowing  himself  to  utter  a 
soothing  word,  but  actually  reiterating  his  belief  of  the  guilt  of 
their  mother;  telling  them,  as  he  says,  “that  he  had  not  seen 
sufficient  grounds  to  vary  his  opinion.”  Cloyse  came  soon  after 
to  the  village,  and  had  an  interview  with  him  for  the  same  purpose. 
Parris  saw  them  one  only  at  a  time,  in  order  to  preclude  their 
taking  the  second  step  required  by  the  gospel  rule  ;  that  is,  to  have 
a  brother  of  the  church  with  them  as  a  witness.  He  also  took  the 
ground  that  they  could  not  be  witnesses  for  each  other,  but  that 
he  should  treat  them  all  as  only  one  person  in  the  transaction.  A 
sense  of  the  injustice  of  his  conduct,  or  some  other  consideration, 
led  William  Way,  another  of  the  brethren,  to  go  with  them  as  a 
witness.  Nurse,  Tarbell,  Wilkins,  Cloyse,  and  Way  went  to  his 
house  together.  He  said  that  the  four  first  were  but  one  person 
in  the  case  ;  but  admitted  that  Way  was  a  distinct  person,  a  brother 
of  accredited  standing,  and  a  witness.  He  escaped,  however, 
under  the  subterfuge  that  the  gospel  rule  required  “two  or  three 
witnesses.”  In  this  way,  the  matter  stood  for  some  time ;  Parris 
saying  that  they  had  not  complied  with  the  conditions  in  Matt, 
xviii.,  and  they  maintaining  that  they  had. 

The  course  of  Parris  was  fast  diminishing  his  hold  upon  the 
public  confidence.  It  was  plain  that  the  disaffected  brethren  had 
done  what  they  could,  in  an  orderly  way,  to  procure  a  council. 
At  length,  the  leading  clergymen  here  and  in  Boston,  whose  minds 
were  open  to  reason,  thought  it  their  duty  to  interpose  their  advice. 
They  wrote  to  Parris,  that  he  and  his  church  ought  to  consent  to  a 
council.  They  wrote  a  second  time  in  stronger  terms.  Not  daring 
to  quarrel  with  so  large  a  portion  of  the  clergy,  Parris  pretended 
to  comply  with  their  advice,  but  demanded  a  majority  of  the  coun- 


494 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


h 


cil  to  be  chosen  by  him  and  his  church.  The  disaffected  brethren 
insisted  upon  a  fair,  mutual  council ;  each  party  to  have  three 
ministers,  with  their  delegates,  in  it.  To  this,  Parris  had  finally 
to  aeree.  The  dissatisfied  brethren  named,  as  one  of  their  three, 
a  church  at  Ipswich.  Parris  objected  to  the  Ipswich  church. 
The  dissenting  brethren  insisted  that  each  side  should  be  free  to 
select  its  respective  three  churches.  Parris  was  not  willing  to  have 
Ipswich  in  the  council.  The  other  party  insisted,  and  here  the 
matter  hung  suspended.  The  truth  is,  that  the  disaffected  breth¬ 
ren  were  resolved  to  have  the  Rev.  John  Wise  in  the  council. 
They  knew  Cotton  Mather  would  be  there,  on  the  side  of  Parris ; 
and  they  knew  that  John  Wise  was  the  man  to  meet  him.  The 
public  opinion  settled  down  in  favor  of  the  dissatisfied  brethren, 
on  the  ground  that  each  party  to  a  mutual  council  ought  to  —  and, 
to  make  it  really  mutual,  must  —  have  free  and  full  power  to  nomi¬ 
nate  the  churches  to  be  called  by  it.  Parris,  being  afraid  to  have 
a  mutual  council,  and  particularly  if  Mr.  Wise  was  in  it,  suddenly 
took  a  new  position.  lie  and  his  church  called  an  ex  parte  council, 
at  which  the  following  ministers,  with  their  delegates,  were  pres¬ 
ent  :  Samuel  Checkley  of  the  New  South  Church,  James  Allen  of 
the  First  Church,  Samuel  Willard  of  the  Old  South,  Increase  and 
Cotton  Mather  of  the  North  Church,  —  all  of  Boston;  Samuel 
Torrey  of  Weymouth ;  Samuel  Phillips  of  Rowley,  and  Edward 
Payson,  also  of  Rowley.  Among  the  delegates  were  many  of  the 
leading  public  men  of  the  province.  The  Result  was  essentially 
damaging  to  Mr.  Parris.  The  tide  was  now  strongly  set  against 
him.  The  Boston  ministers  advised  him  to  withdraw  from  the 
contest.  They  provided  a  settlement  for  him  in  Connecticut,  and 
urged  him  to  quit  the  village,  and  go  there.  But  he  refused, 
and  prolonged  the  struggle.  In  the  course  of  it,  papers  were 
drawn  up  and  signed,  one  by  his  friends,  another  by  his  oppo¬ 
nents,  together  embracing  nearly  all  the  men  and  women  of  the 
village.  Those  who  did  not  sign  either  paper  were  understood  to 
sympathize  with  the  disaffected  brethren.  Many  who  signed  the 
paper  favorable  to  him  acted  undoubtedly  from  the  motive  stated 
in  the  heading;  viz.,  that  the  removal  of  Mr.  Parris  could  do  no 
good,  “for  we  have  had  three  ministers  removed  already,  and  by 
every  removal  our  differences  have  been  rather  aggravated.” 
Another  removal,  they  thought,  would  utterly  ruin  them.  They 


SUPPLEMENT. 


495 


do  not  express  any  particular  interest  in  Mr.  Parris,  but  merely 
dread  another  change.  They  preferred  to  bear  the  ills  they  had, 
rather  than  tly  to  others  that  they  knew  not  of.  It  is  a  very  sig¬ 
nificant  fact,  that  neither  Mrs.  Ann  Putnam  nor  the  widow  Sarah 
Houlton  signed  either  paper  (the  Sarah  IToulton  whose  name 
appears  was  the  wife  of  Joseph  Houlton,  Sr.).  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  they  regretted  the  part  they  had  taken,  particularly 
against  Rebecca  Nurse,  and  probably  did  not  feel  over  favorably 
to  the  person  who  had  led  them  into  their  dreadful  responsibility. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  controversy  continued  to  wax  warm  among 
the  people.  Mr.  Parris  was  determined  to  hold  his  place,  and,  with 
it,  the  parsonage  and  ministry  lands.  The  opposition  was  active, 
unappeasable,  and  effective.  The  following  paper,  handed  about, 
illustrates  the  methods  by  which  they  assailed  him  :  — 

“  As  to  the  contest  between  Mr.  Parris  and  his  hearers,  &c.,  it  may 
be  composed  by  a  satisfactory  answer  to  Lev.  xx.  6:  ‘And  the  soul 
that  turneth  after  such  as  have  familiar  spirits,  and  after  wizards,  to  go 
a-whoring  after  them,  I  will  set  my  face  against  that  soul,  and  will  cut 
him  off  from  among  his  peopled  1  Chron.  x.  18,  14 :  ‘So  Saul  died 
for  his  transgression  which  he  committed  against  the  Lord,  —  even 
against  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  be  kept  not,  —  and  also  for  asking 
counsel  of  one  who  had  a  familiar  to  inquire  of  it,  and  inquired  not  of 
the  Lord  :  therefore  he  slew  him/  ”  &c. 

Mr.  Parris  mirrored,  or  rather  daguerrotyped,  his  inmost 
thoughts  upon  the  page  of  his  church  record-book.  Whatever 
feeling  happened  to  exercise  his  spirit,  found  expi'ession  there. 
This  gives  it  a  truly  rare  and  singular  interest.  Among  a  variety 
of  scraps  variegating  the  record,  and  thrown  in  with  other  notices 
of  deaths,  he  has  the  following :  — 

“  1G94,  Oct.  27.  —  Ruth,  daughter  to  Job  Swinnerton  (died),  and 
buried  the  28th  instant,  being  the  Lord’s  Day ;  and  the  corpse  carried  by 
the  meeting-house  door  in  time  of  singing  before  meeting  afternoon, 
and  more  at  the  funeral  than  at  the  sermon.” 

This  illustrates  the  state  of  things.  The  Swinnerton  family 
were  all  along  opposed  to  Mr.  Parris,  and  kept  remarkably  clear 
from  the  witchcraft  delusion.  Originally,  it  was  not  customary  to 
have  prayers  at  funerals.  At  any  rate,  all  that  Mr.  Parris  had 
to  do  on  the  occasion  was  to  witness  and  record  the  fact,  which  he 


496 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


indites  in  the  pithy  manner  in  which  he  often  relieves  his  mind,  that 
more  people  went  to  the  distant  burial-ground  than  came  to  hear 
him  preach.  The  procession  was  made  up  of  his  opponents  ;  the 
congregation,  of  his  friends.  At  last,  Captain  John  Putnam  pro¬ 
posed  that  each  party  should  choose  an  equal  number  from  them¬ 
selves  to  decide  the  controversy ;  and  that  Major  Bartholomew 
Gedney,  from  the  town,  should  be  invited  to  act  as  moderator  of 
the  joint  meeting.  Both  sides  agreed,  and  appointed  their  repre¬ 
sentatives.  Major  Gedney  consented  to  preside.  But  this  move¬ 
ment  came  to  nothing,  probably  owing  to  the  refractoriness  of  Mr. 
Parris  ;  for,  from  that  moment,  he  had  no  supporters.  The  church 
ceased  to  act :  its  members  were  merged  in  the  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants.  There  was  no  longer  any  division  among  them.  The 
party  that  had  acted  as  friends  of  Mr.  Parris  united  thenceforward 
with  his  opponents  to  defend  the  parish  in  the  suit  he  had  brought 
against  it  in  the  courts.  The  controversy  was  quite  protracted. 
The  Court  was  determined  to  uphold  him,  and  expressed  its  preju¬ 
dice  against  the  parish,  sometimes  with  considerable  severity  of 
manner  and  action.* 

*  The  following  passage  is  from  the  parish  records:  — 

“  On  the  3d  of  February,  1693,  a  warrant  was  issued  for  a  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  village,  signed  by  Thomas  Preston,  Joseph  Pope,  Joseph 
Houlton,  and  John  Tarbell,  of  the  standing  annual  committee,  to  be  held 
Feb.  14,  “  to  consider  and  agree  and  determine  who  are  capable  of  voting 
in  our  public  transactions,  by  the  power  given  us  by  the  General-court  order 
at  our  first  settlement;  and  to  consider  of  and  make  void  a  vote  in  our  book 
of  records,  on  the  18th  of  June,  1689,  where  there  is  a  salary  of  sixty-six 
pouuds  stated  to  Mr.  Parris,  he  not  complying  with  it;  also  to  consider  of 
and  make  Void  several  votes  in  the  book  of  records  on  the  10th  of  October, 
1692,  where  our  ministry  house  and  barn  and  two  acres  of  land  seem  to  be 
conveyed  from  us  after  a  fraudulent  manner.” 

At  this  meeting,  it  was  voted,  that  “  all  men  that  are  ratable,  or  hereafter 
shall  be  living  within  that  tract  of  land  mentioned  in  our  General-court 
order,  shall  have  liberty  in  nominating  and  appointing  a  committee,  and 
voting  in  any  of  our  public  concerns.” 

By  referring  to  the  account,  in  the  First  Part,  of  the  controversy  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  village  and  Mr.  Bayley,  “the  power”  above  alluded 
to,  “given  us  by  the  General  Court,”  will  be  seen  fully  described.  In  its 
earnestness  to  fasten  Mr.  Bayley  upon  “  the  inhabitants,”  the  Court  elabor¬ 
ately  ordained  the  system  by  which  they  should  be  constrained  to  provide  for 
him,  and  compelled  to  raise  the  means  of  paying  his  salary.  As  no  church 


SUPPLEMENT. 


497 


The  parish  heeded  not  the  frowns  of  the  Court,  but  persisted 
inexorably  in  its  purpose  to  get  rid  of  Mr.  Parris.  After  an  obsti¬ 
nate  contest,  it  prevailed.  In  the  last  stage  of  the  controversy, 
it  appointed  four  men,  as  its  agents  or  attorneys,  whose  names 
indicate  the  spirit  in  which  it  acted,  —  John  Tarbell,  Samuel  Nurse, 
Daniel  Andrew,  and  Joseph  Putnam.  His  dauntless  son  did  not 
follow  the  wolf  through  the  deep  and  dark  recesses  of  his  den  with 
a  more  determined  resolution  than  that  with  which  Joseph  Put¬ 
nam  pursued  Samuel  Parris  through  the  windings  of  the  law,  until 
he  ferreted  him  out,  and  rid  the  village  of  him  for  ever. 

Finally,  the  inferior  court  of  Common  Pleas,  before  which  Mr. 
Parris  had  carried  the  case,  ordered  that  the  matters  in  contro¬ 
versy  between  him  and  the  inhabitants  of  Salem  Village  should  be 
referred  to  arbitrators  for  decision.  The  following  statement  was 
laid  before  them  by  the  persons  representing  the  inhabitants  :  — 

“  To  the  Honorable  Wait  Winthrop,  Elisha  Cook,  and  Samuel  Sewall, 
Esquires,  Arbitrators,  indifferenthj  chosen,  between  Mr.  Samuel  Parris 
and  the  Inhabitants  of  Salem  Village. 

“  The  Remonstrances  of  several  Aggrieved  Persons  in  the  said  Village,  with 
further  Reasons  why  they  conceive  they  ought  not  to  hear  Mr.  Pams,  nor 
to  own  him  as  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel,  nor  to  contribute  any  Support  to 
him  as  such  for  several  years  past,  humbly  offered  as  ft  for  consideration. 
“  We  humbly  conceive  that,  having,  in  April,  1693,  given  our  rea¬ 
sons  why  we  could  not  join  with  Mr.  Parris  in  prayer,  preaching,  or 
sacrament,  if  these  reasons  are  found  sufficient  for  our  withdrawing 
(and  we  cannot  yet  find  but  they  are),  then  we  conceive  ourselves  vir¬ 
tually  discharged,  not  only  in  conscience,  but  also  in  law,  which  re- 

had  then  been  organized,  the  General  Court  fastened  the  duty  upon  “house¬ 
holders."  The  fact  had  not  been  forgotten,  and  the  above  vote  showed  that 
the  parish  intended  to  hold  on  to  the  power  then  given  them.  This  highly 
incensed  the  Court  of  Sessions.  It  ordered  the  parish  book  of  records  to  be 
produced  before  it,  and  caused  a  condemnation  of  such  a  claim  of  right  to. 
be  written  out.  in  open  Court,  on  the  face  of  the  record,  where  it  is  now  to  be 
seen.  It  is  as  follows :  — 

“  At  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  holden  at  Ipswich,  March  the 
28tli,  1693.  This  Court  having  viewed  and  considered  the  above  agreement 
or  vote  contained  in  the  last  five  lines,  finding  the  same  to  be  repugnant 
to  the  laws  of  this  province,  do  declare  the  same  to  be  null  and  void,  and 
that  this  order  be  recorded  with  the  records  of  this  Court. 

“Attest,  Stephen  Sewall,  Cleric." 


VOL.  II. 


32 


498 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


quires  maintenance  to  be  given  to  sucli  as  are  orthodox  and  blameless  ; 
the  said  Mr.  Parris  having  been  teaching  such  dangerous  errors,  and 
preached  such  scandalous  immoralities,  as  ought  to  discharge  any 
(though  ever  so  gifted  otherways)  from  the  work  of  the  ministry,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  his  oath  against  the  lives  of  several,  wherein  he  swears  that 
the  prisoners  with  their  looks  knock  down  those  pretended  sufferers. 
We  humbly  conceive  that  he  that  swears  to  more  than  he  is  certain  of, 
is  equally  guilty  of  perjury  with  him  that  swears  to  what  is  false.  And 
though  they  did  fall  at  such  a  time,  yet  it  could  not  be  known  that  they 
did  it,  much  less  could  they  be  certain  of  it ;  yet  did  swear  positively 
against  the  lives  of  such  as  he  could  not  have  any  knowledge  but  they 
might  be  innocent. 

“  His  believing  the  Devil’s  accusations,  and  readily  departing  from 
all  charity  to  persons,  though  of  blameless  and  godty  lives,  upon  such 
suggestions ;  his  promoting  such  accusations ;  as  also  his  partiality 
therein  in  stifling  the  accusations  of  some,  and,  at  the  same  time,  vigi¬ 
lantly  promoting  others,  —  as  we  conceive,  are  just  causes  for  our  refu¬ 
sal,  &c. 

“  That  Mr.  Parris’s  going  to  Mary  Walcot  or  Abigail  Williams,  and 
directing  others  to  them,  to  know  who  afflicted  the  people  in  their  ill- 
. nesses,  —  we  understand  this  to  be  a  dealing  with  them  that  have  a 
familiar  spirit,  and  an  implicit  denying  the  providence  of  God,  who 
alone,  as  we  believe,  can  send  afflictions,  or  cause  devils  to  afflict  any  : 
this  we  also  conceive  sufficient  to  justify  such  refusal. 

“  That  Mr.  Parris,  by  these  practices  and  principles,  has  been  the 
beginner  and  procurer  of  the  sorest  afflictions,  not  to  this  village  only, 
but  to  this  whole  country,  that  did  ever  befall  them. 

“  We,  the  subscribers,  in  behalf  of  ourselves,  and  of  several  others  of 
the  same  mind  with  us  (touching  these  things),  having  some  of  us  had 
our  relations  by  these  practices  taken  off  by  an  untimely  death;  others 
have  been  imprisoned  and  suffered  in  our  persons,  reputations,  and 
.estates,  —  submit  the  whole  to  your  honors’  decision,  to  determine 
whether  we  are  or  ought  to  be  any  ways  obliged  to  honor,  respect,  and 
•support  such  an  instrument  of  our  miseries  ;  praying  God  to  guide 
your  honors  to  act  herein  as  may  be  for  his  glory,  and  the  future 
settlement  of  our  village  in  amity  and  unity. 

“John  Tarbf.ll, 

Samuel  Nurse, 

Joseph  Putnam, 

Daniel  Andrew, 
Attorneys  for  the  people  of  the  Village. 


Boston,  July  21,  1697.” 


SUPPLEMENT. 


499 


The  arbitrators  decided  that  the  inhabitants  should  pay  to  Mr. 
Parris  a  certain  amount  for  arrearages,  and  also  the  sum  of  £79. 
9s.  6(7.  for  all  his  right  and  interest  in  the  ministry  house  and  land, 
and  that  he  be  forthwith  dismissed ;  and  his  ministerial  relation  to 
the  church  and  society  in  Salem  Village  dissolved.  The  parish 
raised  the  money  with  great  alacrity.  Nathaniel  Ingersol,  who 
had,  as  has  been  stated,  made  him  a  present  at  his  settlement  of 
a  valuable  piece  of  land  adjoining  the  parsonage  grounds,  bought 
it  back,  paying  him  a  liberal  price  for  it,  fully  equal  to  its  value; 
and  he  left  the  place,  so  far  as  appears,  for  ever. 

On  the  14th  of  July,  1G96,  in  the  midst  of  his_  controversy  with 
his  people,  his  wife  died.  She  was  an  excellent  woman  ;  and  was 
respected  and  lamented  by  all.  He  caused  a  stone  slab  to  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  her  grave,  with  a  suitable  inscription,  still 
plainly  legible,  concluding  with  four  lines,  to  which  his  initials  are 
appended,  composed  by  him,  of  which  this  is  one  :  “  Farewell,  best 
wife,  choice  mother,  neighbor,  friend.”  Her  ashes  rest  in  what  is 
called  the  Wadsworth  burial  ground. 

Mr.  Parris  removed  to  Newton,  then  to  Concord;  and  in 
November,  1G97,  began  to  preach  at  Stow,  on  a  salary  of  forty 
pounds,  half  in  money  and  half  in  provisions,  &c.  A  grant  from 
the  general  court  was  relied  upon  from  year  to  year  to  help  to 
make  up  the  twenty  pounds  to  be  paid  in  money.  Afterwards  he 
preached  at  Dunstable,  partly  supported  by  a  grant  from  the 
general  court,  and  finally  in  Sudbury,  where  he  died,  Feb.  27, 
1720.  His  daughter  Elizabeth,  who  belonged,  it  will  be  remem¬ 
bered,  to  the  circle  of  “afflicted  children”  in  1692,  then  nine 
years  of  age,  in  1710  married  Benjamin  Barnes  of  Concord. 
Two  other  daughters  married  in  Sudbury.  His  son  Noyes,  who 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1721,  became  deranged,  and  was 
supported  by  the  town.  His  other  son  Samuel  was  long  deacon 
of  the  church  at  Sudbury,  and  died  Nov.  22,  1792,  aged  ninety- 
one  years. 

In  the  “Boston  News  Letter,”  No.  1433,  July  15,  1731,  is  a 
notice,  as  follows  :  — 

“  Any  person  or  persons  who  knew  Mr.  Samuel  Parris,  formerly 
of  Barbadoes,  afterwards  of  Boston  in  New  England,  merchant,  and 
after  that  minister  of  Salem  Village,  &c.,  deceased  to  be  a  son  of 
Thomas  Parris  of  the  island  aforesaid,  Esq.  who  deceased  1673,  or 


500 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


sole  lieir  by  will  to  all  his  estate  in  said  island,  are  desired  to  give  or 
send  notice  thereof  to  the  printer  of  this  paper ;  and  it  shall  he  for  their 
advantage.” 

Whether  the  identity  of  Mr.  Parris,  of  Salem  Village,  with  the 
son  of  Thomas  Parris,  of  Barbadoes,  was  established,  we  have  no 
information.  If  it  was,  some  relief  may  have  come  to  his  descen¬ 
dants.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe,  that,  after  leaving  the 
village,  he  and  his  family  sulfered  from  extremely  limited  means, 
if  not  from  absolute  poverty.  The  general  ill-repute  brought 
upon  him  by  his  conduct  in  the  witchcraft  prosecutions  followed 
him  to  the  last,  lie  had  forfeited  the  sympathy  of  his  clerical 
brethren  by  his  obstinate  refusal  to  take  their  advice.  They 
earnestly,  over  and  over  again,  expostulated  against  his  prolong¬ 
ing  the  controversy  with  the  people  of  Salem  Village,  besought 
him  to  relinquish  it,  and  promised  him,  if  he  would,  to  provide  an 
eligible  settlement  elsewhere.  They  actually  did  provide  one. 
But  he  rejected  their  counsels  and  persuasions,  in  expressions  of 
ill-concealed  bitterness.  So  that,  when  he  was  finally  driven  away, 
they  felt  under  no  obligations  to  befriend  him ;  and  with  his  emi¬ 
nent  abilities  he  eked  out  a  precarious  and  inadequate  maintenance 
for  himself  and  family,  in  feeble  settlements  in  outskirt  towns, 
during  the  rest  of  his  days. 

It  is  difficult  to  describe  the  character  of  this  unfortunate  man. 
Just  as  is  the  condemnation  which  facts  compel  history  to  pro¬ 
nounce,  I  have  a  feeling  of  relief  in  the  thought,  that,  before  the 
tribunal  to  which  he  so  long  ago  passed,  the  mercy  we  all  shall 
need,  which  comprehends  all  motives  and  allows  for  all  infirmi¬ 
ties,  has  been  extended  to  him,  in  its  infinite  wisdom  and  benignity. 

lie  was  a  man  of  uncommon  abilities,  of  extraordinary  vivacity 
and  activity  of  intellect.  He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  wilfully 
malevolent;  although. somewhat  reckless  in  a  contest,  he  was  not 
deliberately  untruthful ;  on  the  contrary,  there  is  in  his  statements 
a  singular  ingenuousness  and  fairness,  seldom  to  be  found  in  a 
partisan,  much  more  seldom  in  a  principal.  Although  we  get 
almost  all  we  know  of  the  examinations  of  accused  parties  in  the 
witchcraft  proceedings,  and  of  his  long  contentions  with  his  parish, 
from  him,  there  is  hardly  any  ground  to  regret  that  the  parties  on 
the  other  side  had  no  friends  to  tell  their  story.  A  transparency 


SUPPLEMENT. 


501 


of  character,  a  sort  of  instinctive  incontinency  of  mind,  which 
made  him  let  out  every  tiling,  or  a  sort  of  blindness  which  pre¬ 
vented  his  seeing  the  bearings  of  what  was  said  and  done,  make 
his  reports  the  vehicles  of  the  materials  for  the  defence  of  the  very 
persons  lie  was  prosecuting.  I  know  of  no  instance  like  it.  His 
style  is  lucid,  graphic,  lively,  natural  to  the  highest  degree;  and 
whatever  he  describes,  we  see  the  whole,  and,  as  it  were,  from  all 
points  of  view.  Language  flowed  from  his  pen  with  a  facility, 
simplicity,  expressiveness,  and  accuracy,  not  surpassed  or  often 
equalled.  He  wrote  as  men  talk,  using  colloquial  expressions 
without  reserve,  but  always  to  the  point.  When  we  read,  we 
hear  him;  abbreviating  names,  and  clipping  words,  as  in  the 
most  familiar  and  unguarded  conversation.  He  was  not  hampered 
by  fear  of  offending  the  rules  which  some  think  necessary  to  dig¬ 
nify  composition.  In  his  off-hand,  free  and  easy,  gossiping  entries 
in  the  clmrch-book,  or  in  his  carefully  prepared  productions,  like 
the  “Meditations  for  Peace,”  read  before  his  church  and  the  dis¬ 
satisfied  brethren,  we  have  specimens  of  plain  good  English,  in  its 
most  translucent  and  effective  forms.  Considering  that  his  aca¬ 
demic  education  was  early  broken  off,  and  many  intermediate 
years  were  spent  in  commercial  pursuits,  his  learning  and  attain¬ 
ments  are  quite  remarkable.  The  various  troubles  and  tragic 
mischiefs  of  his  life,  the  terrible  wrongs  he  inflicted  on  others,  and 
the  retributions  he  brought  upon  himself,  are  traceable  to  two  or 
three  peculiarities  in  his  mental  and  moral  organization. 

He  had  a  passion  for  a  scene,  a  ceremony,  an  excitement.  He 
delighted  in  the  exercise  of  power,  and  rejoiceu  in  conflicts  or 
commotions,  from  the  exhilaration  they  occasioned,  and  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  they  gave  for  the  gratification  of  the  activity  of  his  nature. 
He  pursued  the  object  of  getting  possession  of  the  ministry  house 
and  land  with  such  desperate  pertinacity,  not,  I  think,  from  ava¬ 
ricious  motives,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  power  it  would  give  him 
as  a  considerable  landholder.  His  love  of  form  and  public  excite¬ 
ment  led  him  to  operate  as  he  did  with  his  church.  He  kept  it  in 
continual  action  during  the  few  years  of  his  ministry.  He  had  at 
least  seventy-five  special  meetings  of  that  body,  without  counting 
those  which  probably  occurred  without  number,  but  of  which 
there  is  no  record,  during  the  six  months  of  the  witchcraft  period. 
Twice,  the  brethren  gave  out,  wholly  exhausted ;  and  the  powers 


502 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


of  the  church  were,  by  vote,  transferred  to  a  special  committee,  to 
act  in  its  behalf,  composed  of  persons  who  had  time  and  strength 
to  spare.  But  Mr.  Parris,  never  weary  of  excitement,  would  have 
been  delighted  to  preside  over  church-meetings,  and  to  be  a  par¬ 
ticipator  in  vehement  proceedings,  every  day  of  his  life.  The 
more  noisy  and  heated  the  contention,  the  more  he  enjoyed  it. 
During  all  the  transactions  connected  with  the  witchcraft  prosecu¬ 
tions,  he  was  everywhere  present,  always  wide  awake,  full  of 
animation,  if  not  cheerfulness,  and  ready  to  take  any  part  to  carry 
them  on.  These  propensities  and  dispositions  were  fraught  with 
danger,  and  prolific  of  evil  in  his  case,  in  consequence  of  what 
looks  very  much  like  a  total  want  in  himself  of  many  of  the  natural 
human  sensibilities,  and  an  inability  to  apprehend  them  in  others. 
Through  all  the  horrors  of  the  witchcraft  prosecutions,  he  never 
evinced  the  slightest  sensibility,  and  never  seemed  to  be  aware 
that  anybody  else  had  any.  It  was  not  absolute  cruelty,  but  the 
absence  of  what  may  be  regarded  as  a  natural  sense.  It  was  not 
a  positive  wickedness,  but  a  negative  defect.  lie  seemed  to  be 
surprised  that  other  people  had  sentiments,  and  could  not  under¬ 
stand  why  Tarbell  and  IST urse  felt  so  badly  about  the  execution  of 
their  mother.  lie  told  them  to  their  faces,  without  dreaming  of 
giving  them  offence,  that,  while  they  thought  she  was  innocent,  and 
he  thought  she  was  guilty  and  had  been  justly  put  to  death,  it  was  a 
mere  difference  of  opinion,  as  about  an  indifferent  matter.  In  his 
“  Meditations  for  Peace,”  presented  to  these  dissatisfied  brethren, 
for  the  purpose  and  with  an  earnest  desire  of  appeasing  them,  he 
tells  them  that  the  indulgence  of  such  feelings  at  all  is  a  yielding 
to  “temptation,”  being  under  “the  clouds  of  human  weakness,” 
and  “  a  bewraying  of  remaining  corruption.”  Indeed,  the  theology 
of  that  day,  it  must  be  allowed,  bore  very  hard  upon  even  the  best 
and  most  sacred  affections  of  our  nature.  The  council,  in  their 
Result,  allude  to  the  feelings  of  those  whose  parents,  and  other 
most  loved  and  honored  relatives  and  connections,  had  been  so 
cruelly  torn  from  them  and  put  to  death,  as  “infirmities  discov¬ 
ered  by  them  in  such  an  heart-breaking  day,”  and  bespeak  for 
their  grief  and  lamentations  a  charitable  construction.  They  ask 
the  church,  who^e  hands  were  red  with  the  blood  of  their  innocent 
and  dearest  friends,  not  to  pursue  them  with  “  more  critical  and 
vigorous  proceedings”  in  consequence  of  their  exhibiting  these 


SUPPLEMENT. 


503 


natural  sensibilities  on  tlie  occasion,  but  “  to  treat  them  with 
bowels  of  much  compassion.”  These  views  had  taken  full  effect 
upon  Mr.  Parris,  and  obliterated  from  his  breast  all  such  “  infirmi¬ 
ties.”  This  is  the  only  explanation  or  apology  that  can  be  made 
for  him. 

Of  the  history  of  Cotton  Mather,  subsequently  to  the  witchcraft 
prosecutions,  and  more  or  less  in  consequence  of  his  agency  in 
them,  it  may  be  said  that  the  residue  of  his  life  was  doomed  to  dis¬ 
appointment,  and  imbittered  by  reproach  and  defeat.  The  storm 
of  fanatical  delusion,  which  he  doubted  not  would  carry  him  to  the 
heights  of  clerical  and  spiritual  power,  in  America  and  everywhere, 
had  left  him  a  wreck.  Ilis  political  aspirations,  always  one  of  his 
strongest  passions,  were  wholly  blasted;  and  the  great  aim  and 
crown  of  his  ambition,  the  Presidency  of  Harvard  College,  once 
and  again  and  for  ever  had  eluded  his  grasp.  I  leave  him  to  tell 
his  story,  and  reveal  the  state  of  his  mind  and  heart  in  his  own 
most  free  and  full  expressions  from  his  private  diary  for  the  year 
1724. 

“1.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  helped  me  to  do  for  the  seafaring 
tribe,  in  prayers  for  them,  in  sermons  to  them,  in  books  bestowed  upon 
them,  and  in  various  projections  and  endeavors  to  render  the  sailors  a 
happy  generation  ?  And  yet  there  is  not  a  man  in  tlie  world  so  re¬ 
viled,  so  slandered,  so  cursed  among  sailors. 

“2.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  helped  me  to  do. for  the  instruction 
and  salvation  and  comfort  of  the  poor  negroes  ?  And  yet  some,  on 
purpose  to  atfront  me,  call  their  negroes  by  the  name  of  COTTON 
MATHER,  that  so  they  may,  with  some  shadow  of  truth,  assert 
crimes  as  committed  by  one  of  that  name,  which  the  hearers  take  to 
be  Me. 

“  8.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  for  the  profit  and 
honor  of  the  female  sex,  especially  in  publishing  the  virtuous  and 
laudable  characters  of  holy  women  ?  And  yet  where  is  the  man 
whom  the  female  sex  have  spit  more  of  their  venom  at?  I  have 
cause  to  question  whether  there  are  twice  ten  in  the  town  but  what 
have,  at  some  time  or  other,  spoken  basely  of  me. 

“  4.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do,  that  I  may  be  a 
blessing  to  my  relatives  ?  I  keep  a  catalogue  of  them,  and  not  a  week 
passes  me  without  some  good  devised  for  some  or  other  of  them,  till  I 
have  taken  all  of  them  under  my  cognizance.  And  yet  where  is  the 
man  who  has  been  so  tormented  with  such  monstrous  relatives  ?  Job 
said,  '  I  am  a  brother  to  dragons.’ 


504 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


“  5.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  for  the  vindication 
and  reputation  of  the  Scottish  nation  ?  And  yet  no  Englishman  has 
been  so  vilified  by  the  tongues  and  pens  of  Scots  as  I  have  been. 

“6.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  for  the  good  of  the 
country,  in  applications  without  number  for  it  in  all  its  interests,  be¬ 
sides  publications  of  things  useful  to  it  and  for  it?  And  yet  there  is 
no  man  whom  the  country  so  loads  with  disrespect  and  calumnies  and 
manifold  expressions  of  aversion. 

“  7.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  for  the  upholding 
of  the  government,  and  the  strengthening  of  it,  and  the  bespeaking  of 
regards  unto  it  ?  And  yet  the  discountenance  I  have  almost  per¬ 
petually  received  from  the  government !  Yea,  the  indecencies  and 
indignities  which  it  has  multiplied  upon  me  are  such  as  no  other  man 
has  been  treated  with. 

“  8.  What  lias  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do,  that  the  College 
may  be  owned  for  the  bringing  forth  such  as  are  somewhat  kn^wn  in 
the  world,  and  have  read  and  wrote  as  much  as  many  have  done  in  other 
places  ?  And  yet  the  College  for  ever  puts  all  possible  marks  of  dis- 
esteem  upon  me.  If  I  were  the  greatest  blockhead  that  ever  came 
from  it,  or  the  greatest  blemish  that  ever  came  to  it,  they  could  not 
easily  show  me  more  contempt  than  they  do. 

“  9.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  for  the  study  of 
a  profitable  conversation  ?  Lor  nearly  fifty  years  together,  I  have  hardly 
ever  gone  into  any  company,  or  had  any  coming  to  me,  without  some 
explicit  contrivance  to  speak  something  or  other  that  they  might  be 
the  wiser  or  the  better  for.  And  yet  my  company  is  as  little  sought 
for,  and  there  is  as  little  resort  unto  it,  as  any  minister  that  I  am 
acquainted  with. 

“  10.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  in  good  offices, 
wherever  I  could  find  opportunities  for  the  doing  of  them  ?  I  for  ever 
entertain  them  with  alacrity.  I  have  offered  pecuniary  recompenses 
to  such  as  would  advise  me  of  them.  And  yet  I  see  no  man  for  whom 
all  are  so  loth  to  do  good  offices.  Indeed  I  find  some  cordial  friends, 
but  how  few!  Often  have  I  said,  What  would  I  give  if  there  were  any 
one  man  in  the  world  to  do  for  me  what  I  am  willing  to  do  for  every 
man  in  the  world  ! 

“  11.  AYhat  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  in  the  writing  of 
many  books  for  the  advancing  of  piety  and  the  promoting  of  his  king¬ 
dom?  There  are,  I  suppose,  more  than  three  hundred  of  them.  And 
yet  I  have  had  more  books  written  against  me,  more  pamphlets  to  tra¬ 
duce  and  reproach  me  and  belie  me,  than  any  man  I  know  in  the  world. 

“  12.  What  has  a  gracious  Lord  given  me  to  do  in  a  variety  of 


SUPPLEMENT. 


505 


services  ?  For  many  lustres  of  years,  not  a  day  lias  passed  me,  without 
some  devices,  even  written  devices,  to  he  serviceable.  And  yet  ray 
sufferings !  They  seem  to  he  (as  in  reason  they  should  he)  more  than 
my  services.  Everybody  points  at  me,  and  speaks  of  me  as  by  far 
the  most  afflicted  minister  in  all  New  England.  And  many  look  on 
me  as  the  greatest  sinner,  because  the  greatest  sufferer;  and  are  pretty 
arbitrary  in  their  conjectures  upon  my  punished  miscarriages.” 

“  Diary,  May  7,  1724.  —  The  sudden  death  of  the  unhappy  man 
who  sustained  the  place  of  President  in  our  College  will  open  a  door 
for  my  doing  singular  services  in  the  best  of  interests.  I  do  not  know 
that  the  care  of  the  College  will  now  be  cast  upon  me,  though  I  am 
told  that  it  is  what  is  most  generally  wished  for.  If  it  should  be,  I 
shall  be  in  abundance  of  distress  about  it ;  but,  if  it  should  not,  yet 
I  may  do  many  things  for  the  good  of  the  College  more  quietly  and 
more  hopefully  than  formerly. 

“  June  5.  —  The  College  is  in  great  hazard  of  dissipation  and  griev¬ 
ous  destruction  and  confusion.  My  advice  to  some  that  have  some 
influence  on  the  public  may  be  seasonable. 

“July  1,  1724.  —  This  day  being  our  insipid,  ill-contrived  anniversary, 
which  we  call  the  Commencement,  I  chose  to  spend  it  at  home  in  suppli¬ 
cations,  partly  on  the  behalf  of  the  College  that  it  may  not  be  foolishly 
thrown  away,  but  that  God  may  bestow  such  a  President  upon  it  as 
may  prove  a  rich  blessing  unto  it  and  unto  all  our  churches.” 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1724,  the  corporation  of  Harvard 
College  elected  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Colman,  pastor  of  the  Brattle- 
street  Church  in  Boston,  to  the  vacant  presidential  chair.  He 
declined  the  appointment.  The  question  hung  in  suspense  an¬ 
other  six  months.  In  June,  1725,  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Wadsworth, 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  was  elected,  accepted  the 
office,  and  held  it  to  his  death,  on  the  16th  of  March,  1737.  It 
may  easily  be  imagined  how  keenly  these  repeated  slights  were 
felt  by  Cotton  Mather.  He  died  on  the  loth  of  February, 
1728. 

From  the  early  part  of  the  spring  of  1695,  when  the  abortive 
attempt  to  settle  the  difficulty  between  Mr.  Parris  and  the  people 
of  the  village,  by  the  umpirage  of  Major  Gedney,  was  made,  it 
evidently  became  the  settled  purpose  of  the  leading  men,  on  both 
sides,  to  restore  harmony  to  the  place.  On  all  committees,  persons 
who  had  been  prominent  in  opposition  to  each  other  were  joined 
together,  that,  thus  co-operating,  they  might  become  reconciled. 


506 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


This  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  “  seating  of  the  meeting-house,” 
as  it  was  called.  In  1699,  in  a  seat  accommodating  three  persons, 
John  Putnam  the  son  of  Nathaniel,  and  John  Tarbell,  were  two  of 
the  three.  Another  seat  for  three  was  occupied  by  James  and  John 
Putnam,  sons  of  John,  and  by  Thomas  Wilkins.  Thomas  Putnam 
and  Samuel  Nurse  were  placed  in  the  same  seat ;  and  so  were  the 
wives  of  Thomas  Putnam  and  Samuel  Nurse,  and  the  widow 
Sarah  Houlton.  The  widow  Preston,  daughter  of  Rebecca  Nurse, 
was  seated  with  the  widow  Walcot,  mother  of  Mary,  one  of  the 
accusing  girls. 

We  see  in  this  the  effect  of  the  wise  and  decisive  course  adopted 
by  Mr.  Parris’s  successor,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Green.  Immediately 
upon  his  ordination,  Nov.  10,  1698,  he  addressed  himself  in  ear¬ 
nest  to  the  work  of  reconciliation  in  that  distracted  parish.  From 
the  date  of  its  existence,  nearly  thirty  years  before,  it  had  been 
torn  by  constant  strife.  It  had  just  passed  through  scenes  which 
had  brought  all  hearts  into  the  most  terrible  alienation.  A  man 
of  less  faith  would  not  have  believed  it  possible,  that  the  horrors 
and  outrages  of  those  scenes  could  ever  be  forgotten,  forgiven,  or 
atoned  for,  by  those  who  had  suffered  or  committed  the  wrongs. 
But  he  knew  the  infinite  power  of  the  divine  love,  which,  as  a  min¬ 
ister  of  Christ,  it  was  his  office  to  inspire  and  diffuse.  He  knew 
that,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  that  people,  who  had  from  the  first 
been  devouring  each  other,  and  upon  whose  garments  the  stain  of 
the  blood  of  brethren  and  sisters  was  fresh,  might  be  made  “  kind 
one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  another,  even  as 
God  for  Christ’s  sake  hath  forgiven”  them.  In  this  heroic  and 
Christ-like  faith,  he  entered  upon  and  steadfastly  adhered  to  his 
divine  work.  He  pursued  it  with  patience,  wisdom,  and  courageous 
energy.  No  ministry  in  the  whole  history  of  the  New-England 
churches  has  had  a  more  difficult  task  put  upon  it,  and  none  has 
more  perfectly  succeeded  in  its  labors.  I  shall  describe  the  admin¬ 
istration  of  this  good  man,  as  a  minister  of  reconciliation,  in  his 
own  words,  transcribed  from  his  church  records  :  — 

“Nov.  25,  1698,  being  spent  in  holy  exercises  (in  order  to  our  pre¬ 
paration  for  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord’s  Supper),  at  John  Putnam, 
Jr.’s,  after  the  exercise,  I  desired  the  church  to  manifest,  by  the  usual 
sign,  that  they  were  so  cordially  satisfied  with  their  brethren,  Thomas 
Wilkins,  John  Tarbell,  and  Samuel  Nurse,  that  they  were  heartily 


SUPPLEMENT. 


507 


desirous  that  they  would  join  with  us  in  all  ordinances,  that  so  we 
might  all  live  lovingly  together.  This  they  consented  unto,  and  none 
made  any  objection,  but  voted  it  by  lifting  up  their  hands.  And  fur¬ 
ther,  that  whatever  articles  they  had  drawn  up  against  these  brethren 
formerly,  they  now  looked  upon  them  as  nothing,  but  let  them  fall  to 
the  ground,  being  willing  that  they  should  be  buried  for  ever. 

“Feb.  5,  1699. —  This  day,  also  our  brother  John  Tarbell,  and  his 
wife,  and  Thomas  Wilkins  and  his  wife,  and  Samuel  Nurse’s  wife, 
joined  with  us  in  the  Lord’s  Supper;  which  is  a  matter  of  thankful¬ 
ness,  seeing  they  have  for  a  long  time  been  so  offended  as  that  they 
could  not  comfortably  join  with  us. 

“  1702.  —  In  December,  the  pastor  spake  to  the  church,  on  the  sab¬ 
bath,  as  followeth  :  ‘  Brethren,  I  find  in  your  church-book  a  record  of 
Martha  Corey’s  being  excommunicated  for  witchcraft;  and,  the  gene¬ 
rality  of  the  land  being  sensible  of  the  errors  that  prevailed  in  that 
day,  some  of  her  friends  have  moved  me  several  times  to  propose  to 
the  church  whether  it  be  not  our  duty  to  recall  that  sentence,  that  so 
it  may  not  stand  against  her  to  all  generations  ;  and  I  myself  being  a 
stranger  to  her,  and  being  ignorant  of  what  was  alleged  against  her,  I 
shall  now  only  leave  it  to  your  consideration,  and  shall  determine  the 
matter  by  a  vote  the  next  convenient  opportunity.’ 

“Feb.  14,  170$.  —  The  major  part  of  the  brethren  consented  to  the 
following:  ‘Whereas  this  church  passed  a  vote,  Sept.  11,  1692,  for 
the  excommunication  of  Martha  Corey,  and  that  sentence  was  pro¬ 
nounced  against  her  Sept.  14,  by  Mr.  Samuel  Farris,  formerly  the 
pastor  of  this  church ;  she  being,  before  her  excommunication,  con¬ 
demned,  and  afterwards  executed,  for  supposed  witchcraft ;  and  there 
being  a  record  of  this  in  our  church-book,  page  12,  we  being  moved 
hereunto,  do  freely  consent  and  heartily  desire  that  the  same  sentence 
may  be  revoked,  and  that  it  may  stand  no  longer  against  her ;  for  we 
are,  through  God’s  mercy  to  us,  convinced  that  we  were  at  that  dark 
day  under  the  power  of  those  errors  which  then  prevailed  in  the  land  ; 
and  we  are  sensible  that  we  had  not  sufficient  grounds  to  think  her 
guilty  of  that  crime  for  which  she  was  condemned  and  executed ;  and 
that  her  excommunication  was  not  according  to  the  mind  of  God, 
and  therefore  we  desire  that  this  may  be  entered  in  our  church-book, 
to  take  off  that  odium  that  is  cast  on  her  name,  and  that  so  God  may 
forgive  our  sin,  and  may  be  atoned  for  the  land ;  and  we  humbly  pray 
that  God  will  not  leave  us  any  more  to  such  errors  and  sins,  but  will 
teach  and  enable  us  always  to  do  that  which  is  right  in  his  sight.’ 

“  There  was  a  major  part  voted,  and  six  or  seven  dissented. 

“J.  Gr.,  Pr.” 


508 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


The  First  Church  in  Salem  rescinded  its  votes  of  excommuni¬ 
cation  of  Rebecca  Nurse  and  Giles  Corey,  in  March,  1712.  The 
church  at  the  village  was  nearly  ten  years  before  it,  in  this  act  of 
justice  to  itself  and  to  the  memory  of  the  injured  dead.  Mr. 
Green  did  not  wait  until  the  public  sentiment  drove  him  to  it. 
lie  regarded  it  as  his  duty  to  lead,  and  keep  in  front  of  that  senti¬ 
ment,  in  the  right  direction.  He  did  not  wait  until  everybody 
demanded  it  to  be  done,  but  instantly  began  to  prepare  his  people 
for  it.  At  the  proper  time,  he  gave  notice  that  lie  was  about  to 
bring  the  question  before  them  ;  and  he  accordingly  did  so.  lie 
had  no  idea  of  allowing  a  few  narrow-minded,  obstinate  individuals 
to  keep  the  blot  any  longer  upon  the  records  of  his  church.  His 
conduct  is  honorable  to  his  name,  and  to  the  name  of  the  village. 
By  wise,  prudent,  but  persistent  elforts,  he  gradually  repaired 
every  breach,  brought  his  parish  out  from  under  reproach,  and  set 
them  right  with  each  other,  with  the  obligations  of  justice,  and 
with  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  It  is  affecting  to  read  his  ejacula¬ 
tions  of  praise  and  gratitude  to  God  for  every  symptom  of  the 
prevalence  of  harmony  and  love  among  the  people  of  his  charge. 

The  man  who  extinguished  the  fires  of  passion  in  a  community 
that  had  ever  before  been  consumed  by  them  deserves  to  be  held 
in  lasting  honor.  The  history  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  in  Salem 
Village  would,  indeed,  be  imperfectly  written,  if  it  failed  to  present 
the  character  of  him  who  healed  its  wounds,  obliterated  the  traces 
of  its  malign  influence  on  the  hearts  and  lives  of  those  who  acted, 
and  repaired  the  wrongs  done  to  the  memory  of  those  who  suffered, 
in  it.  Joseph  Green  had  a  manly  and  amiable  nature.  He  was 
a  studious  scholar  and  an  able  preacher.  lie  was  devoted  to 
his  ministry  and  faithful  to  its  obligations.  He  was  a  leader  of  his 
people,  and  shared  in  their  occupations  and  experiences.  He  was 
active  in  the  ordinary  employments  of  life  and  daily  concerns  of 
society.  Possessed  of  independent  property,  he  was  frugal  and 
simple  in  his  habits,  and  liberal  in  the  use  of  his  means.  The  par¬ 
sonage,  while  he  lived  in  it,  Avas  the  abode  of  hospitality,  and 
frequented  by  the  best  society  in  the  neighborhood.  By  mingled 
firmness  and  kindliness,  he  met  and  removed  difficulties.  He  had 
a  cheerful  temperament,  was  not  irritated  by  the  course  of  e\'ents, 
even  Avlien  of  an  unpleasant  character.  While  Mr.  Noyes  Avas 
disturbed,  even  to  resentment,  by  encroachments  upon  his  parish, 


SUPPLEMENT. 


509 


in  the  formation  of  new  societies  in  the  middle  precinct  of  Salem, 
now  South  Danvers,  and  in  the  second  precinct  of  Beverly,  now 
Upper  Beverly,  Mr.  Green,  although  they  drew  away  from  him 
as  many  as  from  Mr.  Noyes,  went  to  participate  in  the  raising  of 
their  meeting-houses.  Of  a  genial  disposition,  he  countenanced 
innocent  amusements.  lie  was  fond  of  the  sports  of  the  field. 
The  catamount  was  among  the  trophies  of  his  sure  aim,  and  he 
came  home  with  his  huntsman’s  bag  filled  with  wild  pigeons.  He 
would  take  his  little  sons  before  and  behind  him  on  his  horse,  and 
spend  a  day  with  them  fishing  and  fowling  on  Wilkins’s  Pond ; 
and,  when  Indians  threatened  the  settlements,  he  would  shoulder 
his  musket,  join  the  brave  young  men  of  his  parish,  and  be  the 
first  in  the  encounter,  and  the  last  to  relinquish  the  pursuit  of 
the  savage  foe. 

He  was  always,  everywhere,  a  peacemaker ;  by  his  genial  man¬ 
ner,  and  his  genuine  dignity  and  decision  of  character,  he  re¬ 
moved  dissensions  from  his  church  and  neighborhood,  and  secured 
the  respect  while  he  won  the  love  of  all.  That  such  a  person  was 
raised  up  and  placed  where  he  was  at  that  time,  was  truly  a 
providence  of  God. 

The  part  performed  in  the  witchcraft  tragedy  by  the  extraor¬ 
dinary  child  of  twelve  years  of  age,  Ann  Putnam,  has  been  fully  set 
forth.  As  has  been  stated,  both  her  parents  (and  no  one  can  meas¬ 
ure  their  share  of  responsibility,  nor  that  of  others  behind  them,  for 
her  conduct)  died  within  a  fortnight  of  each  other,  in  1699.  She  was 
then  nineteen  years  of  age  ;  a  large  family  of  children,  all  younger 
than  herself,  was  left  with  her  in  the  most  melancholy  orphanage. 
How  many  there  were,  we  do  not  exactly  know  :  eight  survived 
her.  Although  their  uncles,  Edward  and  Joseph,  were  near,  and 
kind,  and  able  to  care  for  them,  the  burden  thrown  upon  her  must 
have  been  great.  With  the  terrible  remembrance  of  the  scenes 
of  1692,  it  was  greater  than  she  could  bear.  Her  health  began  to 
decline,  and  she  was  long  an  invalid.  Under  the  tender  and  faith¬ 
ful  guidance  of  Mr.  Green,  she  did  all  that  she  could  to  seek  the 
forgiveness  of  God  and  man.  After  consultations  with  him,  in 
visits  to  his  study,  a  confession  was  drawn  up,  which  she  desired 
publicly  to  make.  Upon  conferring  with  Samuel  Nurse,  it  was 
found  to  be  satisfactory  to  him,  as  the  representative  of  those  who 
had  suffered  from  her  testimony.  It  was  her  desire  to  offer  this 


510 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


confession  and  a  profession  of  religion  at  the  same  time.  The  day 
was  fixed,  and  made  known  to  the  public.  On  the  25th  of  August, 
1706,  a  great  concourse  assembled  in  the  meeting-house.  Large 
numbers  came  from  other  places,  particularly  from  the  town  of 
Salem.  The  following  document,  having  been  judged  sufficient 
and  suitable,  was  written  out  in  the  church-book  the  evening 
before,  and  signed  by  her.  It  was  read  by  the  pastor  before  the 
congregation,  who  were  seated;  she  standing  in  her  place  while  it 
was  read,  and  owning  it  as  hers  by  a  declaration  to  that  effect  at 
its  close,  and  also  acknowledging  the  signature. 

“  The  Confession  of  Anne  Putnam,  when  she  ivas  received  to  Com- 
•  munion,  1706. 

“  I  desire  to  be  humbled  before  God  for  that  sad  and  humbling 
providence  that  befell  my  father’s  family  in  the  year  about  ’92 ;  that  I, 
then  being  in  my  childhood,  should,  by  such  a  providence  of  God,  be 
made  an  instrument  for  the  accusing  of  several  persons  of  a  grievous 
crime,  whereby  their  lives  were  taken  away  from  them,  whom  now  I 
have  just  grounds  and  good  reason  to  believe  they  were  innocent  per¬ 
sons;  and  that  it  was  a  great  delusion  of  Satan  that  deceived  me  in 
that  sad  time,  whereby  I  justly  fear  I  have  been  instrumental,  with 
others,  though  ignorantly  and  unwittingly,  to  bring  upon  myself  and 
this  land  the  guilt  of  innocent  blood ;  though  what  was  said  or  done 
by  me  against  any  person  I  can  truly  and  uprightly  say,  before  God 
and  man,  I  did  it  not  out  of  any  anger,  malice,  or  ill-will  to  any  per¬ 
son,  for  I  had  no  such  thing  against  one  of  them  ;  but  what  I  did  was 
ignorantly,  being  deluded  by  Satan.  And  particularly,  as  I  was  a 
chief  instrument  of  accusing  of  Goodwife  Nurse  and  her  two  sisters, 
I  desire  to  lie  in  the  dust,  and  to  be  humbled  for  it,  in  that  I  was  a 
cause,  with  others,  of  so  sad  a  calamity  to  them  and  their  families ;  for 
which  cause  I  desire  to  lie  in  the  dust,  and  earnestly  beg  forgiveness 
of  God,  and  from  all  those  unto  whom  I  have  given  just  cause  of  sor¬ 
row  and  offence,  whose  relations  were  taken  away  or  accused. 

[Signed] 

“  This  confession  was  read  before  the  congregation,  together  with 
her  relation,  Aug.  25,  1706 ;  and  she  acknowledged  it. 

“J.  Green,  Pastor. 

This  paper  shows  the  baleful  influence  of  the  doctrine  of  Satan 


SUPPLEMENT. 


511 


then  received.  It  afforded  a  refuge  and  escape  from  the  com¬ 
punctions  of  conscience.  The  load  of  sin  was  easily  thrown  upon 
the  back  of  Satan.  This  young  woman  was  undoubtedly  sincere 
in  her  penitence,  and  was  forgiven,  we  trust  and  believe  ;  but  she 
failed  to  see  the  depth  of  her  iniquity,  and  of  those  who  instigated 
and  aided  her,  in  her  false  accusations.  The  blame,  and  the  deed, 
were  wholly  hers  and  theirs.  Satan  had  no  share  in  it.  Human 
responsibility  cannot  thus  be  avoided. 

While,  in  a  certain  sense,  she  imputes  the  blame  to  Satan,  this 
declaration  of  Ann  Putnam  is  conclusive  evidence  that  she  and  her 
confederate  accusers  did  not  believe  in  any  communications  having 
been  made  to  them  by  invisible  spirits  of  any  kind.  Those  per¬ 
sons,  in  our  day,  who  imagine  that  they  hold  intercourse,  by  rap¬ 
ping  or  otherwise,  with  spiritual  beings,  have  sometimes  found 
arguments  in  favor  of  their  belief  in  the  phenomena  of  the  witch¬ 
craft  trials.  But  Ann  Putnam’s  confession  is  decisive  against  this. 
If  she  had  really  received  from  invisible  beings,  subordinate  spirits, 
or  the  spirits  of  deceased  persons,  the  matters  to  which  she  testi¬ 
fied,  or  ever  believed  that  she  had,  she  would  have  said  so.  On 
the  contrary,  she  declares  that  she  had  no  foundation  whatever, 
from  any  source,  for  what  she  said,  but  was  under  the  subtle  and 
mysterious  influence  of  the  Devil  himself. 

She  died  at  about  the  age  of  thirty-six  years.  Her  will  is  dated 
May  20,  1715,  and  was  presented  in  probate  June  29,  1716.  Its 
preamble  is  as  follows  :  — 

“In  the  name  of  God,  amen.  I,  Anne  Putnam,  of  the  town  of 
Salem,  single  woman,  being  oftentimes  sick  and  weak  in  body,  but 
of  a  disposing  mind  and  memory,  blessed  be  God  !  and  calling  to  mind 
the  mortality  of  my  body,  and  that  it  is  appointed  for  all  men  once  to 
die,  do  make  this  my  last  will  and  testament.  First  of  all,  I  recom¬ 
mend  my  spirit  into  the  hands  of  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  my 
Kedeemer,  with  whom  I  hope  to  live  for  ever ;  and,  as  for  my  body,  I 
commit  it  to  the  earth,  to  be  buried  in  a  Christian  and  decent  manner, 
at  the  discretion  of  my  executor,  hereafter  named,  nothing  doubting 
blit,  by  the  mighty  power  of  God,  to  receive  the  same  again  at  the 
resurrection.” 

She  divided  her  land  to  her  four  brothers,  and  her  personal 
estate  to  her  four  sisters.  , 

It  seems  that  she  was  frequently  the  subject  of  sickness,  and 


512 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


her  bodily  powers  much  weakened.  The  probability  is,  that  the 
long-continued  strain  kept  upon  her  muscular  and  nervous  organi¬ 
zation,  during  the  witchcraft  scenes,  had  destroyed  her  constitution. 
Such  uninterrupted  and  vehement  exercise,  to  their  utmost  tension, 
of  the  imaginative,  intellectual,  and  physical  powers,  in  crowded 
and  heated  rooms,  before  the  public  gaze,  and  under  the  feverish 
and  consuming  influence  of  bewildering  and  all  but  delirious  ex¬ 
citement,  could  hardly  fail  to  sap  the  foundations  of  health  in  so 
young  a  child.  The  tradition  is,  that  she  had  a  slow  and  fluctuating 
decline.  The  language  of  her  will  intimates,  that,  at  intervals, 
there  were  apparent  checks  to  her  disease,  and  rallies  of  strength, 
—  “oftentimes  sick  and  weak  in  body.”  She  inherited  from  her 
mother  a  sensitive  and  fragile  constitution  ;  but  her  father,  although 
brought  to  the  grave,  probably  by  the  terrible  responsibilities  and 
trials  in  which  he  had  been  involved,  at  a  comparatively  early  age, 
belonged  to  a  long-lived  race  and  neighborhood.  The  opposite 
elements  of  her  composition  struggled  in  a  protracted  contest,  —  on 
the  one  side,  a  nature  morbidly  subject  to  nervous  excitability 
sinking  under  the  exhaustion  of  an  overworked,  overburdened, 
and  shattered  system  ;  on  the  other,  tenacity  of  life.  The  conflict 
continued  with  alternating  success  for  years ;  but  the  latter  gave 
way  at  last.  Her  story,  in  all  its  aspects,  is  worthy  of  the  study 
of  the  psychologist.  Her  confession,  profession,  and  death  point 
the  moral. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Green  died  Nov.  26,  1715.  The  following 
tribute  to  his  memory  is  inscribed  on  the  records  of  the  church. 
It  is  in  the  handwriting,  and  style  of  thought  and  language,  of 
Deacon  Edward  Putnam. 

“  Then  was  the  choicest  flower  and  greenest  olive-tree  in  the  garden 
of  our  God  here  cut  down  in  its  prime  and  flourishing  estate  at  the  age 
of  forty  years  and  two  days,  who  had  been  a  faithful  ambassador  from 
God  to  us  eighteen  years.  Then  did  that  bright  star  set,  and  never 
more  to  appear  here  among  us ;  then  did  our  sun  go  down ;  and  now 
what  darkness  is  come  upon  us  !  Put  away  and  pardon  our  iniquities, 
0  Lord  !  which  have  been  the  cause  of  thy  sore  displeasure,  and 
return  to  us  again  in  mercy,  and  provide  yet  again  for  this  thy  flock  a 
pastor  after  thy  own  heart,  as  thou  hath  promised  to  thy  people  in  thy 
word  ;  on  which  promise  we  liaye  hope,  for  we  are  called  by  thy  name ; 
and,  oh,  leave  us  not !  ” 


SUPPLEMENT. 


513 


The  Rev.  Peter  Clark  was  ordained  June  5,  1717.  The  ter¬ 
mination  of  the  connection  between  the  Salem  Village  church 
and  the  witchcraft  delusion,  and  all  similar  kinds  of  absurdity  and 
wickedness,  is  marked  by  the  following  record,  which  fully  and  for 
ever  redeems  its  character.  If  Samuel  Parris  had  been  as  wise 
and  brave  as  Peter  Clark,  he  would,  in  the  same  decisive  manner, 
have  nipped  the  thing  in  the  bud. 

“  Salem  Village  Church  Records. 

“Sept.  5,  1746.  —  At  a  church  meeting  appointed  on  the  lecture, 
the  day  before,  on  the  occasion  of  several  persons  in  this  parish  being 
reported  to  have  resorted  to  a  woman  of  a  very  ill  reputation,  pretend¬ 
ing  to  the  art  of  divination  and  fortune-telling,  &c.,  to  make  inquiry  into 
that  matter,  and  to  take  such  resolutions  as  may  be  thought  proper  on 
the  occasion,  the  brethren  of  the  church  then  present  came  into  the 
following  votes ;  viz.,  That  for  Christians,  especially  church-members, 
to  seek  to  and  consult  reputed  witches  or  fortune-tellers,  this  church  is 
clearly  of  opinion,  and  firmly  believes  on  the  testimony  of  the  Word 
of  God,  is  highly  impious  and  scandalous,  being  a  violation  of  the 
Christian  covenant  sealed  in  baptism,  rendering  the  persons  guilty  of 
it  subject  to  the  just  censure  of  the  church. 

“  No  proof  appearing  against  any  of  the  members  of  this  church 
(some  of  whom  had  been  strongly  suspected  of  this  crime),  so  as  to 
convict  them  of  their  being  guilty,  it  was  further  voted,  That  the 
pastor,  in  the  name  of  the  church,  should  publicly  testify  their  disap¬ 
probation  and  abhorrence  of  this  infamous  and  ungodly  practice  of 
consulting  witches  or  fortune-tellers,  or  any  that  are  reputed  such  ; 
exhorting  all  under  their  watch,  who  may  have  been  guilty  of  it,  to 
an  hearty  repentance  and  returning  to  God,  earnestly  seeking  forgive¬ 
ness  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  warning  all  against  the  like  practice 
for  the  time  to  come. 

“  Sept.  7.  —  This  testimony,  exhortation,  and  warning,  voted  by  the 
church,  was  publicly  given  by  the  pastor,  before  the  dismission  of 
the  congregation.” 

The  Salem  Village  Parish,  when  its  present  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Charles  B.  Rice,  was  settled,  Sept.  2,  1863,  had  been  in  existence 
a  hundred  and  ninety-one  years.  During  its  first  twenty-five 
years,  it  had  four  ministers,  whose  aggregate  period  of  service 
was  eighteen  years.  During  the  succeeding  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  years,  it  had  four  ministers,  whose  aggregate  period  of  service 

33 


von.  ii. 


514 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


was  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years.  They  had  all  been  well 
educated,  several  were  men  of  uncommon  endowments,  and  with¬ 
out  exception  they  possessed  qualities  suitable  for  success  and 
usefulness  in  their  calling. 

The  first  period  was  filled  with  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
troubles,  quarrels,  and  animosities,  culminating  in  the  most  terrific 
and  horrible  disaster  that  ever  fell  upon  a  people.  The  second 
period  was  an  uninterrupted  reign  of  peace,  harmony,  and  unity ; 
no  religious  society  ever  enjoying  more  comfort  in  its  privileges, 
or  exhibiting  a  better  example  of  all  that  ought  to  characterize  a 
Christian  congregation. 

The  contrast  between  the  lives  of  its  ministers,  in  the  two 
periods  respectively,  is  as  great  as  between  their  pastorates. 
The  first  four  suffered  from  inadequate  means  of  support,  and, 
owing  to  the  feuds  in  the  congregation,  rates  not  being  collected, 
were  hardly  supplied  with  the  necessaries  of  life.  There  is  no 
symptom  in  the  records  of  the  second  period  of  there  having  ewer 
been  any  difficulty  on  this  score.  The  prompt  fulfilment  of  their 
contracts  by  the  people,  and  the  favor  of  Providence,  placed  the 
ministers  above  the  reach  or  approach  of  inconvenience  or  annoy¬ 
ance  from  that  quarter. 

The  history  of  the  New-England  churches  presents  no  epoch 
more  melancholy,  distressful,  and  stormy  than  the  first,  and  none 
more  united,  prosperous,  or  commendable  than  the  second  period 
in  the  annals  of  the  Salem  Village  church. 

The  contrast  between  the  fortunes  and  fates  of  the  ministers 
of  these  two  periods  is  worthy  of  being  stated  in  detail. 

James  Bayley  began  to  preach  at  the  Village  at  the  formation 
of  the  society,  when  he  was  quite  a  young  man,  within  three  years 
from  receiving  his  degree  at  Harvard  College.  After  about  seven 
years,  during  which  he  buried  his  wife  and  three  children,  and 
encountered  a  bitter  and  turbulent  opposition,  —  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  most  causeless  and  unreasonable,  —  he  relinquished  the  minis¬ 
try  altogether,  and  spent  the  residue  of  his  life  in  another  profession 
elsewhere. 

The  ministry  of  George  Burroughs,  at  the  Village,  lasted  about 
two  years.  The  violence  of  both  parties  to  the  controversy  by 
which  the  parish  had  been  rent  was  concentrated  upon  his  inno¬ 
cent  and  unsheltered  head.  He  was,  at  a  public  assembly  of  his 


SUPPLEMENT. 


515 


people,  in  his  own  meeting-house,  arrested,  and  taken  out  in  the 
custody  of  the  marshal  of  the  county,  a  prisoner  for  a  debt  in¬ 
curred  to  meet  the  expenses  of  his  wife’s  recent  funeral,  of  an 
amount  less  than  the  salary  then  due  him,  and  which,  in  point  of 
fact,  he  had  paid  at  the  time  by  an  order  upon  the  parish  treasurer. 
From  such  outrageous  ill-treatment,  he  escaped  by  resigning  his 
ministry.  He  was  followed  to  his  retreat  in  a  remote  settlement, 
and  while  engaged  there,  a  laborious,  self-sacrificing,  and  devoted 
minister,  was.  by  the  malignity  of  his  enemies  at  the  Village,  sud¬ 
denly  seized,  all  unconscious  of  having  wronged  a  human  creature, 
snatched  from  the  table  where  he  was  taking  his  frugal  meal  in 
his  humble  home,  torn  from  his  helpless  family,  hurried  up  to  the 
Village ;  overwhelmed  in  a  storm  of  falsehood,  rage,  and  folly ; 
loaded  with  irons,  immured  in  a  dungeon,  carried  to  the  place  of 
execution,  consigned  to  the  death  of  a  felon ;  and  his  uncoffined 
remains  thrown  among  the  clefts  of  the  rocks  of  Witch  Hill,  and 
left  but  half  buried,  —  for  a  crime  of  which  he  was  as  innocent  as 
the  unborn  child. 

Deodat  Lawson,  a  great  scholar  and  great  preacher,  after  a 
two  years’  trial,  and  having  buried  his  wife  and  daughter  at  the 
Village,  abandoned  the  attempt  to  quell  the  storm  of  passion  there. 
He  found  another  settlement  on  the  other  side  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  which  he  left  without  taking  leave,  and  was  never  heard  of 
more  by  his  people.  Eight  years  afterwards,  he  re-appeared  in  the 
reprint,  at  London,  of  his  famous  Salem  Village  sermon,  and  then 
vanished  for  ever  from  sight.  A  cloud  of  impenetrable  darkness 
envelopes  his  name  at  that  point.  Of  his  fate  nothing  is  known, 
except  that  it  was  an  “  unhappy”  one. 

Samuel  Parris,  after  a  ministry  of  seven  years,  crowded  from 
the  very  beginning  with  contention  and  animosity,  and  closed  in 
desolation,  ruin,  and  woes  unutterable,  havoc  scattered  among  his 
people  and  the  whole  country  round,  was  driven  from  the  parish, 
the  blood  of  the  innocent  charged  upon  his  head,  and,  for  the  rest 
of  his  days,  consigned  to  obscurity  and  penury.  The  place  of  his 
abode  has  upon  it  no  habitation  or  structure  of  man ;  and  the  only 
vestiges  left  of  him  are  his  records  of  the  long  quarrel  with  his 
congregation,  and  his  inscription  on  the  headstone,  erected  by 
him,  as  he  left  the  Village  for  ever,  over  the  fresh  grave  of  his 
wife. 


516 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


Surely,  the  annals  of  no  church  present  a  more  dismal,  shocking, 
or  shameful  history  than  this. 

Joseph  Green,  on  the  26th  of  November,  1715,  terminated 
with  his  life  a  ministry  of  eighteen  years,  as  useful,  beneficent, 
and  honorable  as  it  had  been  throughout  harmonious  and  happy. 
Peter  Clark  died  in  office,  June  10,  *  1768,  after  a  service  of 
fifty-one  years.  lie  was  recognized  throughout  the  country  as  an 
able  minister  and  a  learned  divine.  Peace  and  prosperity  reigned, 
without  a  moment’s  intermission,  among  the  people  of  his  charge. 
Benjamin  Wadsworth,  D.D.,  also  died  in  office,  Jan.  18,  1826, 
after  a  service  of  fifty-four  years.  Through  life  he  was  universally 
esteemed  and  loved  in  all  the  churches.  Milton  P.  Braman,  D.D., 
on  the  1st  of  April,  1861,  terminated  by  resignation  a  ministry  of 
thirty-five  years.  He  always  enjoyed  universal  respect  and  affec¬ 
tion,  and  the  parish  under  his  care,  uninterrupted  union  and  pros¬ 
perity.  He  did  not  leave  his  people,  but  remains  among  them, 
participating  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges,  and  upholding 
the  hands  of  his  successor.  His  eminent  talents  are  occasionally 
exercised  in  neighboring  pulpits,  and  in  other  services  of  public 
usefulness.  He  lives  in  honored  retirement  on  land  originally 
belonging  to  Nathaniel  Putnam,  distant  only  a  few  rods,  a  little  to 
the  north  of  east,  from  the  spot  owned  and  occupied  by  his  first 
predecessor,  James  Bayley. 

It  can  be  said  with  assurance,  of  this  epoch  in  the  history  of 
the  Salem  Village  church  and  society,  that  it  can  hardly  be  par¬ 
alleled  in  all  that  indicates  the  well-being  of  man  or  the  bless¬ 
ings  of  Heaven.  No  such  contrast,  as  these  two  periods  in  the 
annals  of  this  parish  present,  can  elsewhere  be  found. 

Prosecutions  for  witchcraft  continued  in  the  older  countries 
after  they  had  been  abandoned  here ;  although  it  soon  began  to 
be  difficult,  everywhere,  to  procure  the  conviction  of  a  person 
accused  of  witchcraft.  In  1716,  a  Mrs.  Hicks  and  her  daughter, 
the  latter  aged  nine  years,  were  hanged  in  Huntingdon,  in  Eng¬ 
land,  for  witchcraft.  In  the  year  1720,  an  attempt,  already 
alluded  to,  was  made  to  renew  the  Salem  excitement  in  Littleton, 
Mass.,  but  it  failed :  the  people  had  learned  wisdom  at  a  price  too 
dear  to  allow  them  so  soon  to  forget  it.  In  a  letter  to  Cotton 
Mather,  written  Feb.  19,  1720,  the  excellent  Dr.  Watts,  after 
having  expressed  his  doubts  respecting  the  sufficiency  of  the  spec- 


SUPPLEMENT. 


517 


tral  evidence  for  condemnation,  says,  in  reference  to  the  Salem 
witchcraft,  “  I  am  much  persuaded  that  there  was  much  imme¬ 
diate  agency  of  the  Devil  in  these  affairs,  and  perhaps  there  were 
some  real  witches  too.”  Not  far  from  this  time,  we  find  what  was 
probably  the  opinion  of  the  most  liberal-minded  and  cultivated 
people  in  England  expressed  in  the  following  language  of  Addi¬ 
son :  “To  speak  my  thoughts  freely,  I  believe,  in  general,  that 
there  is  and  has  been  such  a  thing  as  witchcraft,  but,  at  the  same 
time,  can  give  no  credit  to  any  particular  instance  of  it.” 

There  was  an  execution  for  witchcraft  in  Scotland  in  1722.  As 
late  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  an  annual  discourse,  com¬ 
memorative  of  executions  that  took  place  in  Huntingdon  during 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  continued  to  be  delivered  in  that 
place.  An  act  of  a  Presbyterian  synod  in  Scotland,  published  in 
1743,  and  reprinted  at  Glasgow  in  1766,  denounced  as  a  national 
sin  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws  against  witchcraft. 

Blackstone,  the  great  oracle  of  British  law,  and  who  flourished 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century,  declared  his  belief  in  witch¬ 
craft  in  the  following  strong  terms:  “To  deny  the  possibility, 
nay,  the  actual  existence,  of  witchcraft  and  sorcery,  is  at  once 
flatly  to  contradict  the  revealed  Word  of  God,  in  various  passages 
both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament;  and  the  thing  itself  is  a 
truth  to  which  every  nation  in  the  world  hath  in  its  turn  borne 
testimony,  either  by  examples  seemingly  well  attested,  or  by  pro¬ 
hibitory  laws,  which  at  least  suppose  the  possibility  of  commerce 
with  evil  spirits.” 

It  is  related,  in  White’s  “Natural  History  of  Selborne,”  that, 
in  the  year  1751,  the  people  of  Tring,  a  market  town  of  Hertford¬ 
shire,  and  scarcely  more  than  thirty  miles  from  London,  “seized 
on  two  superannuated  wretches,  crazed  with  age  and  overwhelmed 
with  infirmities,  on  a  suspicion  of  witchcraft.”  They  were  carried 
to  the  edge  of  a  horse-pond,  and  there  subjected  to  the  water 
ordeal.  The  trial  resulted  in  the  acquittal  of  the  prisoners ;  but 
they  were  both  drowned  in  the  process. 

A  systematic  effort  seems  to  have  been  made  during  the  eigh¬ 
teenth  century  to  strengthen  and  renew  the  power  of  superstition. 
Alarmed  by  the  progress  of  infidelity,  many  eminent  and  excellent 
men  availed  themselves  of  the  facilities  which  their  position  at 
the  head  of  the  prevailing  literature  afforded  them,  to  push  the 


518 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


faith  of  the  people  as  far  as  possible  towards  the  opposite  extreme 
of  credulity.  It  was  a  most  unwise,  and,  in  its  effects,  deplorable 
policy.  It  was  a  betrayal  of  the  cause  of  true  religion.  It  was 
an  acknowledgment  that  it  could  not  be  vindicated  before  the 
tribunal  of  severe  reason.  Besides  all  the  misery  produced  by 
filling  the  imagination  with  unreal  objects  of  terror,  the  restoration 
to  influence,  during  the  last  century,  of  the  fables  and  delusions  of 
an  ignorant  age,  has  done  incalculable  injury,  by  preventing  the 
progress  of  Christian  truth  and  sound  philosophy  ;  thus  promoting 
the  cause  of  the  very  infidelity  it  was  intended  to  check.  The 
idea  of  putting  down  one  error  by  setting  up  another  cannot  have 
suggested  itself  to  any  mind  that  had  ever  been  led  to  appreciate 
the  value  or  the  force  of  truth.  But  this  was  the  policy  of  Chris¬ 
tian  writers  from  the  time  of  Addison  to  that  of  Johnson.  The 
latter  expressly  confesses,  that  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  the 
credit  of  the  belief  of  the  existence  and  agency  of  ghosts,  and 
other  supernatural  beings,  in  order  to  help  on  the  argument  for  a 
future  state  as  founded  upon  the  Bible. 

Dr.  Hibbert,  in  his  excellent  book  on  the  “Philosophy  of 
Apparitions,”  illustrates  some  remarks  similar  to  those  just  made, 
by  the  following  quotation  from  Mr.  Wesley  :  — 

“  It  is  true,  that  the  English  in  general,  and  indeed  most  of  the 
men  in  Europe,  have  given  up  all  accounts  of  witches  and  apparitions 
as  mere  old  wives’  fables.  I  am  sorry  for  it;  and  I  willingly  take  this 
opportunity  of  entering  my  solemn  protest  against  this  violent  com¬ 
pliment,  which  so  many  that  believe  the  Bible  pay  to  those  who  do  not 
believe  it.  I  owe  them  no  such  service.  I  take  knowledge,  these  are 
at  the  bottom  of  the  outcry  which  has  been  raised,  and  with  such 
insolence  spread  throughout  the  nation,  in  direct  opposition,  not  only 
to  the  Bible,  but  to  the  suffrage  of  the  wisest  and  best  men  in  all  ages 
and  nations.  They  well  know  (wdiether  Christians  know  it  or  not), 
that  the  giving  up  witchcraft  is,  in  effect,  giving  up  the  Bible.  And 
they  know,  on  the  other  hand,  that,  if  but  one  account  of  the  inter¬ 
course  of  men  with  separate  spirits  be  admitted,  their  whole  castle  in 
the  air  (Deism,  Atheism,  Materialism)  falls  to  the  ground.  I  know  no 
reason,  therefore,  why  we  should  suffer  even  this  weapon  to  be  wrested 
out  of  our  hands.  Indeed,  there  are  numerous  arguments  besides, 
which  abundantly  confute  their  vain  imaginations.  But  we  need  not 
be  hooted  out  of  one  :  neither  reason  nor  religion  requires  this.” 


SUPPLEMENT. 


519 


The  belief  in  witchcraft  continued  to  hold  a  conspicuous  place 
among  popular  superstitions  during  the  whole  of  the  last  century. 
Many  now  living  can  remember  the  time  when  it  prevailed  very 
generally.  Each  town  or  village  had  its  peculiar  traditionary 
tales,  which  were  gravely  related  by  the  old,  and  deeply  impressed 
upon  the  young. 

The  legend  of  the  “Screeching  Woman”  of  Marblehead  is 
worthy  of  being  generally  known.  The  story  runs  thus  :  A  pirati¬ 
cal  cruiser,  having  captured  a  Spanish  vessel  during  the  seventeenth 
century,  brought  her  into  Marblehead  harbor,  which  was  then  the 
site  of  a  few  humble  dwellings.  The  male  inhabitants  were  all 
absent  on  their  fishing  voyages.  The  pirates  brought  their  pris¬ 
oners  ashore,  carried  them  at  the  dead  of  the  night  into  a  retired 
glen,  and  there  murdered  them.  Among  the  captives  was  an  Eng¬ 
lish  female  passenger.  The  women  who  belonged  to  the  place 
heard  her  dying  outcries,  as  they  rose  through  the  midnight  air, 
and  reverberated  far  and  wide  along  the  silent  shores.  She  was 
heard  to  exclaim,  “O  mercy,  mercy  !  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  save  me  ! 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  save  me  !  ”  Her  body  was  buried  by  the  pirates 
on  the  spot.  The  same  piercing  voice  is  believed  to  be  heard  at 
intervals,  more  or  less  often,  almost  every  year,  in  the  stillness  of 
a  calm  starlight  or  clear  moonlight  night.  There  is  something,  it 
is  said,  so  wild,  mysterious,  and  evidently  superhuman  in  the 
sound,  as  to  strike  a  chill  of  dread  into  the  hearts  of  all  who 
listen  to  it.  The  writer  of  an  article  on  this  subject,  in  the 
“Marblehead  Register”  of  April  3,  1830,  declares,  that  “there 
are  not  wanting,  at  the  present  day,  persons  of  unimpeachable 
veracity  and  known  respectability,  who  still  continue  firmly  to 
believe  the  tradition,  and  to  assert  that  they  themselves  have  been 
auditors  of  the  sounds  described,  which  they  declare  were  of  such 
an  unearthly  nature  as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  imposition  or 
deception.” 

When  “the  silver  moon  unclouded  holds  her  way,”  or  when 
the  stars  are  glistening  in  the  clear,  cold  sky,  and  the  dark  forms 
of  the  moored  vessels  are  at  rest  upon  the  sleeping  bosom  of  the 
harbor ;  when  no  natural  sound  comes  forth  from  the  animate  or 
inanimate  creation  but  the  dull  and  melancholy  rote  of  the  sea 
along  the  rocky  and  winding  coast,  —  how  often  is  the  watcher 
startled  from  the  reveries  of  an  excited  imagination  by  the  pite- 


520 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


ous,  dismal,  and  terrific  screams  of  the  unlaid  ghost  of  the  mur¬ 
dered  lady  ! 

A  negro  died,  fifty  years  ago,  in  that  part  of  Danvers  called 
originally  Salem  Village,  at  a  very  advanced  age.  He  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  have  reached  his  hundredth  year.  He  never  could  be 
prevailed  upon  to  admit  that  there  was  any  delusion  or  mistake  in 
the  proceedings  of  1692.  To  him,  the  whole  affair  was  easy  of 
explanation.  He  believed  that  the  witchcraft  was  occasioned  by 
the  circumstance  of  the  Devil’s  having  purloined  the  church-book, 
and  that  it  subsided  so  soon  as  the  book  was  recovered  from  his 
grasp.  Perhaps  the  particular  hypothesis  of  the  venerable  African 
was  peculiar  to  himself ;  but  those  persons  must  have  a  slight 
acquaintance  with  the  history  of  opinions  in  this  and  every  other 
country,  who  are  not  aware  that  the  superstition  on  which  it  was 
founded  has  been  extensively  entertained  by  men  of  every  color, 
almost,  if  not  quite,  up  to  the  present  day.  If  the  doctrines  of 
demonology  have  been  completely  overthrown  and  exterminated 
in  our  villages  and  cities,  it  is  a  very  recent  achievement ;  nay,  I 
fear  that  in  many  places  the  auspicious  event  remains  to  take 
place. 

In  the  year  1808,  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Paxton,  a  village  of 
Huntingdonshire,  in  England,  within  sixty  miles  of  London,  rose 
in  a  body,  attacked  the  house  of  an  humble,  and,  so  far  as  appears, 
inoffensive  and  estimable  woman,  named  Ann  Izard,  suspected  of 
bewitching  three  young  females,  —  Alice  Brown,  Fanny  Amey, 
and  Mary  Fox,  —  dragged  her  out  of  her  bed  into  the  fields, 
pierced  her  arms  and  body  with  pins,  and  tore  her  flesh  with  their 
nails,  until  she  was  covered  with  blood.  They  committed  the 
same  barbarous  outrage  tipon  her  again,  a  short  time  afterwards ; 
and  would  have  subjected  her  to  the  water  ordeal,  had  she  not 
found  means  to  fly  from  that  part  of  the  country. 

The  writer  of  the  article  “Witchcraft,”  in  Rees’s  “Cyclo¬ 
paedia,”  gravely  maintains  the  doctrine  of  “  ocular  fascination.” 

Prosecutions  for  witchcraft  are  stated  to  have  occurred,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  present  century,  in  some  of  the  interior  districts  of 
our  Southern  States.  The  civilized  world  is  even  yet  full  of  nec¬ 
romancers  and  thaumaturgists  of  every  kind.  The  science  of 
‘  ‘  palmistry  ”  is  still  practised  by  many  a  muttering  vagrant ;  and 
perhaps  some  in  this  neighborhood  remember  when,  in  the  days 


t 


SUPPLEMENT. 


521 


of  their  youthful  fancy,  they  held  out  their  hands,  that  their  future 
fortunes  might  be  read  in  the  lines  of  their  palms,  and  their  wild 
and  giddy  curiosity  and  anxious  affections  be  gratified  by  informa¬ 
tion  respecting  wedding-day  or  absent  lover. 

The  most  celebrated  fortune-teller,  perhaps,  that  ever  lived, 
resided  in  an  adjoining  town.  The  character  of  “Moll  Pitcher” 
is  familiarly  known  in  all  parts  of  the  commercial  world.  She  died 
in  1813.  Her  place  of  abode  was  beneath  the  projecting  and 
elevated  summit  of  High  Rock,  in  Lynn,  and  commanded  a  view 
of  the  wild  and  indented  coast  of  Marblehead,  of  the  extended 
and  resounding  beaches  of  Lynn  and  Chelsea,  of  Nahant  Rocks, 
of  the  vessels  and  islands  of  Boston’s  beautiful  bay,  and  of  its 
remote  southern  shore.  She  derived  her  mysterious  gifts  by 
inheritance,  her  grandfather  having  practised  them  before  in  Mar¬ 
blehead.  Sailors,  merchants,  and  adventurers  of  every  kind, 
visited  her  residence,  and  placed  confidence  in  her  predictions. 
People  came  from  great  distances  to  learn  the  fate  of  missing 
friends,  or  recover  the  possession  of  lost  goods ;  while  the  young 
of  both  sexes,  impatient  of  the  tardy  pace  of  time,  and  burning 
with  curiosity  to  discern  the  secrets  of  futurity,  availed  themselves 
of  every  opportunity  to  visit  her  lowly  dwelling,  and  hear  from 
her  prophetic  lips  the  revelation  of  the  most  tender  incidents  and 
important  events  of  their  coming  lives.  She  read  the  future,  and 
traced  what  to  mere  mortal  eyes  were  the  mysteries  of  the  present 
or  the  past,  in  the  arrangement  and  aspect  of  the  grounds  or 
settlings  of  a  cup  of  tea  or  coffee.  Her  name  has  everywhere 
become  the  generic  title  of  fortune-tellers,  and  occupies  a  con¬ 
spicuous  place  in  the  legends  and  ballads  of  popular  superstition. 
Her  renown  has  gone  abroad  to  the  farthest  regions,  and  her 
memory  will  be  perpetuated  in  the  annals  of  credulity  and  impos¬ 
ture.  An  air  of  romance  is  breathed  around  the  scenes  where  she 
practised  her  mystic  art,  the  interest  and  charm  of  which  will 
increase  as  the  lapse  of  time  removes  her  history  back  towards 
the  dimness  of  the  distant  past. 

The  elements  of  the  witchcraft  delusion  of  1692  are  slumbering 
still  in  the  bosom  of  society.  We  hear  occasionally  of  haunted 
houses,  cases  of  second-sight,  and  communications  from  the  spir¬ 
itual  world.  It  always  will  be  so.  The  human  mind  feels  instinc¬ 
tively  its  connection  with  a  higher  sphere.  Some  will  ever  be 


522 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


impatient  of  the  restraints  of  our  present  mode  of  being,  and 
prone  to  break  away  from  them  ;  eager  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of 
the  invisible  world,  willing  to  venture  beyond  the  bounds  of  ascer¬ 
tainable  knowledge,  and,  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  to  aspire  where 
the  laws  of  evidence  cannot  follow  them.  A  love  of  the  marvellous 
is  inherent  to  the  sense  of  limitation  while  in  these  terrestrial 
bodies  ;  and  many  will  always  be  found  not  content  to  wait  until 
this  tabernacle  is  dissolved  and  we  shall  be  clothed  upon  with  a 
body  which  is  from  Heaven. 


A  P  P  E  N  I)  I  X. 


I.  Lawson’s  Prefatory  Address. 

II.  Lawson’s  Brief  Account. 

III.  Letter  to  Jonathan  Corwin. 

IV.  Extracts  from  Mr.  Parris’s  Church  Records. 


A  P  P  E  N  1)  I  X 


I. 

PREFATORY  ADDRESS. 


[From  the  edition  of  Deodat  Lawson’s  Sermon  printed  in  London,  1704  ] 


To  all  my  Christian  Friends  and  Acquaintance,  the  Inhabitants  of  Salem  Village. 

Christian  Friends, —  The  sermon  here  presented  unto  you  was  de¬ 
livered  in  your  audience  by  that  unworthy  instrument  who  did  formerly 
spend  some  years  among  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  though  attended 
with  manifold  sinful  failings  and  infirmities,  for  which  I  do  implore  the  par¬ 
doning  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  entreat  from  you  the  covering  of 
love.  As  this  was  prepared  for  that  particular  occasion  when  it  was  delivered 
amongst  you,  so  the  publication  of  it  is  to  be  particularly  recommended  to 
your  service. 

My  heart’s  desire  and  continual  prayer  to  God  for  you  all  is,  that  you 
may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and,  accordingly,  that  all 
means  he  is  using  with  you,  by  mercies  and  afflictions,  ordinances  and  provi¬ 
dences,  may  be  sanctified  to  the  building  you  up  in  grace  and  holiness,  and 
preparing  you  for  the  kingdom  of  glory.  We  are  told  by  the  apostle  (Acts 
xiv.  22),  that  through  many  tribulations  we  must  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Now,  since  (besides  your  share  in  the  common  calamities,  under  the 
burden  whereof  this  poor  people  are  groaning  at  this  time)  the  righteous  and 
holy  God  hath  been  pleased  to  permit  a  sore  and  grievous  affliction  to  befall 
you,  such  as  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  common  to  men ;  viz.,  by  giving  liberty 
to  Satan  to  range  and  rage  amongst  you,  to  the  torturing  the  bodies  and 
distracting  the  minds  of  some  of  the  visible  sheep  and  lambs  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  And  (which  is  yet  more  astonishing)  he  who  is  the  accuser 
of  the  brethren  endeavors  to  introduce  as  criminal  some  of  the  visible  sub¬ 
jects  of  Christ’s  kingdom,  by  whose  sober  and  godly  conversation  in  times 


526 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


past  we  could  draw  no  other  conclusions  than  that  they  were  real  members 
of  his  mystical  body,  representing  them  as  the  instruments  of  his  malice 
against  their  friends  and  neighbors. 

I  thought  meet  thus  to  give  you  the  best  assistance  I  could,  to  help  you 
out  of  your  distresses.  And  since  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  in  his  permissive  as 
well  as  effective  providence,  are  unsearchable,  and  his  doings  past  finding 
out,  and  pious  souls  are  at  a  loss  what  will  be  the  issue  of  these  things,  I 
therefore  bow  my  knees  unto  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  he  would  cause  all  grace  to  abound  to  you  and  in  you,  that  your  poor 
place  may  be  delivered  from  those  breaking  and  ruining  calamities  which  are 
threatened  as  the  pernicious  consequences  of  Satan’s  malicious  operations ; 
and  that  you  may  not  be  left  to  bite  and  devour  one  another  in  your  sacred 
or  civil  society,  in  your  relations  or  families,  to  the  destroying  much  good  and 
promoting  much  evil  among  you,  so  as  in  any  kind  to  weaken  the  hands  or 
discourage  the  heart  of  your  reverend  and  pious  pastor,  whose  family  also 
being  so  much  under  the  influence  of  these  troubles,  spiritual  sympathy  can¬ 
not  but  stir  you  up  to  assist  him  as  at  all  times,  so  especially  at  such  a  time  as 
this;  he,  as  well  as  his  neighbors,  being  under  such  awful  circumstances.  As 
to  this  discourse,  my  humble  desire  and  endeavor  is,  that  it  may  appear  to  be 
according  to  the  form  of  sound  words,  and  in  expressions  every  way  intelli¬ 
gible  to  the  meanest  capacities.  It  pleased  God,  of  his  free  grace,  to  give  it 
some  acceptation  with  those  that  heard  it,  and  some  that  heard  of  it  desired 
me  to  transcribe  it,  and  afterwards  to  give  way  to  the  printing  of  it.  I  pre¬ 
sent  it  therefore  to  your  acceptance,  and  commend  it  to  the  divine  benedic¬ 
tion;  and  that  it  may  please  the  Almighty  God  to  manifest  his  power  in 
putting  an  end  to  your  sorrows  of  this  nature,  by  bruising  Satan  under  your 
feet  shortly,  causing  these  and  all  other  your  and  our  troubles  to  work 
together  for  our  good  now7,  and  salvation  in  the  day  of  the  Lord,  is  the 
unfeigned  desire,  and  shall  be  the  uncessant  prayer,  of — 

Less  than  the  least,  of  all  those  that  serve, 

In  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus, 

DEODAT  LAWSON. 


APPENDIX. 


527 


II. 

DEODAT  LAWSON’S  NARRATIVE. 


[Appended  to  hia  Sermon,  London  edition,  1704.] 

At  the  request  of  several  worthy  ministers  and  Christian  friends,  I  do  here 
annex,  by  way  of  appendix  to  the  preceding  sermon,  some  brief  account  of 
those  amazing  things  which  occasioned  that  discourse  to  be  delivered.  Let 
the  reader  please  therefore  to  take  it  in  the  brief  remarks  following,  and  judge 
as  God  shall  incline  him. 

It  pleased  God,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1692,  to  visit  the  people  at  a  place 
called  Salem  Village,  in  New  England,  with  a  very  sore  and  grievous  afflic¬ 
tion,  in  which  they  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  sovereign  and  holy  God 
was  pleased  to  permit  Satan  and  his  instruments  to  affright  and  afflict  those 
poor  mortals  in  such  an  astonishing  and  unusual  manner. 

Now,  I  having  for  some  time  before  attended  the  work  of  the  ministry  in 
that  village,  the  report  of  those  great  afflictions  came  quickly  to  my  notice, 
and  the  more  readily  because  the  first  person  afflicted  was  in  the  minister’s 
family  who  succeeded  me  after  I  was  removed  from  them.  In  pity,  therefore, 
to  my  Christian  friends  and  former  acquaintance  there,  I  was  much  con¬ 
cerned  about  them,  frequently  consulted  with  them,  and  fervently,  by  divine 
assistance,  prayed  for  them ;  but  especiall}'  my  concern  was  augmented  when 
it  was  reported,  at  an  examination  of  a  person  suspected  for  witchcraft,  that 
my  wife  and  daughter,  who  d:ed  three  years  before,  were  sent  out  of  the 
world  under  the  malicious  operations  of  the  infernal  powers,  as  is  more  fully 
represented  in  the  following  remarks.  I  did  then  desire,  and  was  also  de¬ 
sired  by  some  concerned  in  the  Court,  to  be  there  present,  that  I  might  hear 
wfflat  was  alleged  in  that  respect;  observing,  therefore,  when  I  was  amongst 
them,  that  the  case  of  the  afflicted  was  very  amazing  and  deplorable,  and  the 
charges  brought  against  the  accused  such  as  were  ground  of  suspicions,  yet 
very  intricate,  and  difficult  to  draw  up  right  conclusions  about  them;  I 
thought  good,  for  the  satisfaction  of  myself  and  such  of  my  friends  as  might 
be  curious  to  inquire  into  those  mysteries  of  God’s  providence  and  Satan’s 
malice,  to  draw  up  and  keep  by  me  a  brief  account  of  the  most'  remarkable 
things  that  came  to  my  knowledge  in  those  affairs,  which  remarks  were  after¬ 
wards  (at  my  request)  revised  and  corrected  by  some  who  sat  judges  on  the 
bench  in  those  matters,  and  were  now  transcribed  from  the  same  paper  on 
which  they  were  then  written.  After  this,  I  being  by  the  providence  of  God 


528 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


called  over  into  England  in  the  year  1696,  I  then  brought  that  paper  of  re¬ 
marks  on  the  witchcraft  with  me ;  upon  the  sight  thereof  some  worthy  ministers 
and  Christian  friends  here  desired  me  to  reprint  the  sermon,  and  subjoin  the 
remarks  thereunto  in  way  of  appendix ;  but  for  some  particular  reasons  I  did 
then  decline  it.  But  now,  forasmuch  as  I  myself  had  been  an  eye  and  ear  wit¬ 
ness  of  most  of  those  amazing  things,  so  far  as  they  came  within  the  notice 
of  human  senses,  and  the  requests  of  my  friends  were  renewed  since  I  came 
to  dwell  in  London,  I  have  given  way  to  the  publishing  of  them,  that  I  may 
satisfy  such  as  are  not  resolved  to  the  contrary,  that  there  may  be  (and  are) 
such  operations  of  the  powers  of  darkness  on  the  bodies  and  minds  of  man¬ 
kind  by  divine  permission,  and  that  those  who  sat  judges  on  those  cases  may, 
by  the  serious  consideration  of  the  formidable  aspect  and  perplexed  circum¬ 
stances  of  that  afflictive  providence,  be  in  some  measure  excused,  or  at  least 
be  less  censured,  for  passing  sentence  on  several  persons  as  being  the  instru¬ 
ments  of  Satan  in  those  diabolical  operations,  when  they  were  involved  in 
such  a  dark  and  dismal  scene  of  providence,  in  which  Satan  did  seem  to  spin 
a  finer  thread  of  spiritual  wickedness  than  in  the  ordinary  methods  of  witch¬ 
craft:  hence  the  judges,  desiring  to  bear  due  testimony  against  such  diabolical 
practices,  were  inclined  to  admit  the  validity  of  such  a  sort  of  evidence  as  was 
not  so  clearly  and  directly  demonstrable  to  human  senses  as  in  other  cases  is 
required,  or  else  they  could  not  discover  the  mysteries  of  witchcraft.  I  pre¬ 
sume  not  to  impose  upon  m}’  Christian  or  learned  reader  any  opinion  of 
mine  how  far  Satan  was  an  instrument  in  God’s  hand  in  these  amazing 
afflictions  which  were  on  many  persons  there  about  that  time;  but  I  am 
certainly  convinced,  that  the  great  God  was  pleased  to  lengthen  his  chain  to 
a  very  great  degree  for  the  hurting  of  some  and  reproaching  of  others,  as  far 
as  he  was  permitted  so  to  do.  Now,  that  I  may  not  grieve  any  whose  rela¬ 
tions  were  either  accused  or  afflicted  in  those  times  of  trouble  and  distress, 
I  choose  to  lay  down  every  particular  at  large,  without  mentioning  any 
names  or  persons  concerned  (they  being  wholly  unknown  here);  resolving  to 
confine  myself  to  such  a  proportion  of  paper  as  is  assigned  to  these  remarks 
in  this  impression  of  the  book,  yet,  that  I  may  be  distinct,  Shall  speak  briefly 
to  the  matter  under  three  heads ;  viz. :  — 

1.  Relating  to  the  afflicted. 

2.  Relating  to  the  accused.  And, 

3.  Relating  to  the  confessing  witches. 

To  begin  with  the  afflicted,  — 

1.  One  or  two  of  the  first  that  were  afflicted  complaining  of  unusual  ill¬ 
ness,  their  relations  used  physic  for  their  cure;  but  it  was  altogether  in 
vain. 

2.  They  were  oftentimes  very  stupid  in  their  fits,  and  could  neither  hear 
nor  understand,  in  the  apprehension  of  the  standers-by;  so  that,  when  prayer 
hath  been  made  with  some  of  them  in  such  a  manner  as  might  be  audible  in 
a  great  congregation,  yet,  when  their  fit  was  off,  they  declared  they  did  not 
hear  so  much  as  one  word  thereof. 


APPENDIX. 


529 


3.  Tt  was  several  times  observed,  that,  when  they  were  discoursed  with 
about  God  or  Christ,  or  the  things  of  salvation,  they  were  presently  afflicted 
at  a  dreadful  rate;  and  hence  were  oftentimes  outrageous,  if  they  were  per¬ 
mitted  to  be  in  the  congregation  in  the  time  of  the  public  worship. 

4.  They  sometimes  told  at  a  considerable  distance,  yea,  several  miles  off, 
that  such  and  such  persons  were  afflicted,  which  hath  been  found  to  be  done 
according  to  the  time  and  manner  they  related  it;  and  they  said  the  spectres 
of  the  suspected  persons  told  them  of  it. 

5.  They  affirmed  that  they  saw  the  ghosts  of  several  departed  persons, 
who,  at  their  appearing,  did  instigate  them  to  discover  such  as  (they  said) 
were  instruments  to  hasten  their  deaths,  threatening  sorely  to  afflict  them  if 
they  did  not  make  it  known  to  the  magistrates.  They  did  affirm  at  the 
examination,  and  again  at  the  trial  of  an  accused  person,  that  they  saw  the 
ghosts  of  In’s  two  wives  (to  whom  he  had  carried  very  ill  in  their  lives,  as  was 
proved  by  several  testimonies),  and  also  that  they  saw  the  ghosts  of  my  wife 
and  daughter  (who  died  above  three  years  before);  and  they  did  affirm,  that, 
when  the  very  ghosts  looked  on  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  they  looked  red,  as 
if  the  blood  would  fly  out  of  their  faces  with  indignation  at  him.  The  man¬ 
ner  of  it  was  thus:  several  afflicted  being  before  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  on  a 
sudden  they  fixed  all  their  eyes  together  on  a  certain  place  of  the  floor  before 
the  prisoner,  neither  moving  their  eyes  nor  bodies  for  some  few  minutes,  nor 
answering  to  any  question  which  was  asked  them:  so  soon  as  that  trance 
was  over,  some  being  removed  out  of  sight  and  hearing,  they  were  all,  one 
after  another,  asked  what  they  saw ;  and  they  did  all  agree  that  they  saw 
those  ghosts  above  mentioned.  I  was  present,  and  heard  and  saw  the  whole 
of  what  passed  upon  that  account,  during  the  trial  of  that  person  who  was 
accused  to  be  the  instrument  of  Satan’s  malice  therein. 

6.  In  this  (worse  than  Gallick)  persecution  by  the  dragoons  of  hell,  the 
persons  afflicted  were  harassed  at  such  a  dreadful  rate  to  write  their  names 
in  a  Devil-book  presented  by  a  spectre  unto  them:  and  one,  in  my  hearing, 
said,  “I  will  not,  I  will  not  write!  It  is  none  of  God’s  book,  it  is  none  of 
God’s  book:  it  is  the  Devil’s  book,  for  aught  I  know;”  and,  when  they 
steadfastly  refused  to  sign,  they  were  told,  if  they  would  but  touch,  or  take 
hold  of,  the  book,  it  should  do;  and,  lastly,  the  diabolical  propositions  were 
so  low  and  easy,  that,  if  they  would  but  let  their  clothes,  or  any  thing  about 
them,  touch  the  book,  they  should  be  at  ease  from  their  torments,  it  being 
their  consent  that  is  aimed  at  by  the  Devil  in  those  representations  and 
operations. 

7.  One  who  had  been  long  afflicted  at  a  stupendous  rate  by  two  or  three 
spectres,  when  they  were  (to  speak  after  the  manner  of  men)  tired  out  with 
tormenting  of  her  to  force  or  fright  her  to  sign  a  covenant  with  the  Prince  of 
Darkness,  they  said  to  her,  as  in  a  diabolical  and  accursed  passion,  “  Go 
your  ways,  and  the  Devil  go  with  you;  for  we  will  be  no  more  pestered  and 
plagued  about  you.”  And,  ever  after  that,  she  was  well,  and  no  more  af¬ 
flicted,  that  ever  I  heard  of. 


VOL.  II. 


34 


530 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


8.  Sundry  pins  have  been  taken  out  of  the  wrists  and  arms  of  the 
afflicted;  and  one,  in  time  of  examination  of  a  suspected  person,  had  a  pin 
run  through  both  her  upper  and  her  lower  lip  when  she  was  called  to  speak, 
yet  no  apparent  festering  followed  thereupon,  after  it  was  taken  out. 

9.  Some  of  the  afflicted,  as  they  were  striving  in  their  fits  in  open  court, 
have  (by  invisible  means)  had  their  wrists  bound  fast  together  with  a  real 
cord,  so  as  it  could  hardly  be  taken  off  without  cutting.  Some  afflicted  have 
been  found  with  their  arms  tied,  and  hanged  upon  an  hook,  from  whence 
others  have  been  forced  to  take  them  down,  that  they  might  not  expire  in 
that  posture. 

10.  Some  afflicted  have  been  drawn  under  tables  and  beds  by  undis¬ 
cerned  force,  so  as  they  could  hardly  be  pulled  out;  and  one  was  drawn 
half-way  over  the  side  of  a  well,  and  was,  with  much  difficulty,  recovered 
back  again. 

11.  When  they  were  most  grievously  afflicted,  if  they  were  brought  to 
the  accused,  and  the  suspected  person’s  hand  but  laid  upon  them,  they  were 
immediately  relieved  out  of  their  tortures;  but,  if  the  accused  did  but  look 
on  them,  they  were  instantly  struck  down  again.  Wherefore  they  used  to 
cover  the  face  of  the  accused,  while  they  laid  their  hands  on  the  afflicted, 
and  then  it  obtained  the  desired  issue:  for  it  hath  been  experienced  (both  in 
examinations  and  trials),  that,  so  soon  as  the  afflicted  came  in  sight  of  the 
accused,  they  were  immediately  cast  into  their  fits;  yea,  though  the  accused 
were  among  the  crowd  of  people  unknown  to  the  sufferers,  yet,  on  the  first 
view,  were  they  struck  down,  which  was  observed  in  a  child  of  four  or  five 
years  of  age,  when  it  was  apprehended,  that  so  many  as  she  could  look 
upon,  either  directly  or  by  turning  her  head,  were  immediately  struck  into 
their  fits. 

12.  An  iron  spindle  of  a  woollen  wheel,  being  taken  very  strangely  out 
of  an  house  at  Salem  Village,  was  used  by  a  spectre  as  an  instrument  of 
torture  to  a  sufferer,  not  being  discernible  to  the  standers-by,  until  it  was,  by 
the  said  sufferer,  snatched  out  of  the  spectre’s  hand,  and  then  it  did  immedi¬ 
ately  appear  to  the  persons  present  to  be  really  the  same  iron  spindle. 

13.  Sometimes,  in  their  fits,  they  have  had  their  tongues  drawn  out  of 
their  mouths  to  a  fearful  length,  their  heads  turned  very  much  over  their 
shoulders;  and  while  they  have  been  so  strained  in  their  fits,  and  had  their 
arms  and  legs,  &c.,  wrested  as  if  they  were  quite  dislocated,  the  blood  hath 
gushed  plentifully  out  of  their  mouths  for  a  considerable  time  together, 
which  some,  that  they  might  be  satisfied  that  it  was  real  blood,  took  upon 
their  finger,  and  rubbed  on  their  other  hand.  I  saw  several  together  thus 
violently  strained  and  bleeding  in  their  fits,  to  my  very  great  astonishment 
that  my  fellow-mortals  should  be  so  grievously  distressed  by  the  invisible 
powers  of  darkness.  For  certainly  all  considerate  persons  who  beheld  these 
things  must  needs  be  convinced,  that  their  motions  in  their  fits  were  preter¬ 
natural  and  involuntary,  both  as  to  the  manner,  which  was  so  strange  as  a 
well  person  could  not  (at  least  without  great  pain)  screw  their  bodies  into, 


APPENDIX. 


531 


and  as  to  the  violence  also,  they  were  preternatural  motions,  being  much 
beyond  the  ordinary  force  of  the  same  persons  when  they  were  in  their  right 
minds;  so  that,  being  such  grievous  sufferers,  it  would  seem  very  hard  and 
unjust  to  censure  them  of  consenting  to,  or  holding  any  voluntary  converse 
or  familiarity  with,  the  Devil. 

14.  Their  eyes  were,  for  the  most  part,  fast  closed  in  their  trance-fits,  and 

when  they  were  asked  a  question  they  could  give  no  answer;  and  I  do 
verily  believe,  they  did  not  hear  at  that  time;  yet  did  they  discourse  with 
the  spectres  as  with  real  persons,  asserting  things  and  receiving  answers 
affirmative  or  negative,  as  the  matter  was.  For  instance,  one,  in  my  hearing, 
thus  argued  with ,  and  railed  at,  a  spectre:  “  Goodw— ,  begone,  begone,  be¬ 
gone  !  Are  you  not  ashamed,  a  woman  of  your  profession,  to  afflict  a  poor 
creature  so?  What  hurt  did  I  ever  do  you  in  my  life?  You  have  but  two 
years  to  live,  and  then  the  Devil  will  torment  your  soul  for  this.  Your  name 
is  blotted  out  of  God’s  book,  and  it  shall  never  be  put  into  God’s  book 

again.  Begone!  For  shame!  Are  you  not  afraid  of  what  is  coming  upon 

you?  I  know,  I  know  what  will  make  you  afraid,  —  the  wrath  of  an  angry 
God:  I  am  sure  that  will  make  you  afraid.  Begone!  Do  not  torment  me. 

I  know  what  you  would  have  ”  (we  judged  she  meant  her  soul) :  “  but  it  is 

out  of  your  reach;  it  is  clothed  with  the  white  robes  of  Christ’s  righteous¬ 
ness.”  This  sufferer  I  was  well  acquainted  with,  and  knew  her  to  be  a  very 
sober  and  pious  woman,  so  far  as  I  could  judge;  and  it  appears  that  she  had 
not,  in  that  fit,  voluntary  converse  with  the  Devil,  for  then  she  might  have 
been  helped  to  a  better  guess  about  that  woman  abovesaid,  as  to  her  living 
but  two  years,  for  she  lived  not  many  months  after  that  time.  Further,  this 
woman,  in  the  same  tit,  seemed  to  dispute  with  a  spectre  about  a  text  of 
Scripture:  the  apparition  seemed  to  deny  it;  she  said  she  was  sure  there  was 
such  a  text,  and  she  would  tell  it;  and  then  said  she  to  the  apparition,  “  I  am 
sure  you  will  be  gone,  for  you  cannot  stand  before  that  text.”  Then  was  she 
sorely  afflicted,  —  her  mouth  drawn  on  one  side,  and  her  body  strained 
violently  for  about  a  minute;  and  then  said,  “  It  is,  it  is,  it  is,”  three  or  four 
times,  and  then  was  afflicted  to  hinder  her  from  telling;  at  last,  she  broke 
forth,  and  said,  “  It' is  the  third  chapter  of  the  Revelations.”  I  did  manifest 
some  scruple  about  reading  it,  lest  Satan  should  draw  any  thereby  supersti- 
tiously  to  improve  the  word  of  the  eternal  God;  yet  judging  I  might  do  it 
once,  for  an  experiment,  I  began  to  read;  and,  before  I  had  read  through  the 
first  verse,  she  opened  her  eyes,  and  was  well.  Her  husband  and  the  specta¬ 
tors  told  me  she  had  often  been  relieved  by  reading  texts  pertinent  to  her 
case,  —  as  Isa.  40,  1,  ch.  49,  1,  ch.  50,  1,  and  several  others.  These  things  I 
saw  and  heard  from  her. 

15.  They  were  vehemently  afflicted,  to  hinder  any  persons  praying  with 
them,  or  holding  them  in  any  religious  discourse.  The  woman  mentioned  in 
the  former  section  was  told  by  the  spectre  I  should  not  go  to  prayer;  but  she 
said  I  should,  and,  after  I  had  done,  reasoned  with  the  apparition,  “  Did  not 
I  say  he  should  go  to  prayer?”  I  went  also  to  visit  a  person  afflicted  in 


532 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


Boston;  and,  after  I  was  gone  into  the  house  to  which  she  belonged,  she 
being  abroad,  and  pretty  well,  when  she  was_  told  I  was  there,  she  said,  ‘‘  I 
am  loath  to  go  in;  for  I  know  he  will  fall  into  some  good  discourse,  and  then 
I  am  sure  I  shall  go  into  a  fit.”  Accordingly,  when  she  came  in,  I  advised 
her  to  improve  all  the  respite  she  had  to  make  her  peace  with  God,  and  sue 
out  her  pardon  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  beg  supplies  of  faith  and  every 
grace  to  deliver  her  from  the  powers  of  darkness;  and,  before  I  had  uttered 
all  this,  she  fell  into  a  fearful  lit  of  diabolical  torture. 

16.  Some  of  them  were  asked  how  it  came  to  pass  that  they  were  not 
affrighted  when  they  saw  the  black-man  :  they  said  they  were  at  first,  but  not 
so  much  afterwards. 

17.  Some  of  them  affirmed  they  saw  the  black-man  sit  on  the  gallows,  and 
that  he  whispered  in  the  ears  of  some  of  the  condemned  persons  when  they 
were  just  ready  to  be  turned  off,  even  while  they  were  making  their  last 
speech. 

18.  They  declared  several  things  to  be  done  by  witchcraft,  which  hap¬ 
pened  before  some  of  them  were  born,  —  as  strange  deaths  of  persons,  casting 
away  of  ships,  &c. ;  and  they  said  the  spectres  told  them  of  it. 

19.  Some  of  them  have  sundry  times  seen  a  wlnie-man  appearing  amongst 
the  spectres,  and,  as  soon  as  he  appeared,  the  black-icitches  vanished :  they  said 
this  white-man  had  often  foretold  them  what  respite  they  should  have  from 
their  fits,  as  sometimes  a  day  or  two  or  more,  which  fell  out  accordingly. 
One  of  the  afflicted  said  she  saw  him,  in  her  fit,  and  was  with  him  in  a  glo¬ 
rious  place  which  had  no  candle  nor  sun,  yet  was  full  of  light  and  brightness, 
where  there  was  a  multitude  in  white,  glittering  robes,  and  they  sang  the 
song  in  Rev.  5,  9;  l’sal.  110,  149.  She  was  loath  to  leave  that  place,  and 
said,  “  Hoio  long  shall  1  stay  here?  Let  me  be  along  with  you."  She  was 
grieved  she  could  stay  no  longer  in  that  place  and  company. 

20.  A  young  woman  that  was  afflicted  at  a  fearful  rate  had  a  spectre 
appeared  to  her  with  a  white  sheet  wrapped  about  it,  not  visible  to  the  stand- 
ers-by  until  this  sufferer  (violently  striving  in  her  fit)  snatched  at,  took  hold, 
and  tore  off'  a  corner  of  that  sheet.  Her  father,  being  by  her,  endeavored  to 
lay  hold  upon  it  with  her,  that  she  might  retain  what  she  had  gotten ;  but,  at 
the  passing-away  of  the  spectre,  he  had  such  a  violent  twitch  of  his  hand  as 
if  it  would  have  been  torn  off:  immediately  thereupon  appeared  in  the  suffer¬ 
er’s  hand  the  comer  of  a  sheet,  —  a  real  cloth,  visible  to  the  spectators,  which 
(as  it  is  said)  remains  still  to  be  seen. 

REMARKABLE  THINGS  RELATING  TO  THE  ACCUSED. 

1.  A  woman,  being  brought  upon  public  examination,  desired  to  go  to 
prayer.  The  magistrates  told  her  they  came  not  there  to  hear  her  pray,  but 
to  examine  her  in  what  was  alleged  against  her  relating  to  suspicions  of 
witchcraft. 

2.  It  was  observed,  both  in  times  of  examination  and  trial,  that  the 


APPENDIX. 


533 


accused  seemed  little  affected  with  what  the  sufferers  underwent,  or  what  was 
charged  against  them  as  being  the  instruments  of  Satan  therein,  so  that  the 
spectators  were  grieved  at  their  unconcernedness. 

3.  They  were  sometimes  their  mm  image,  and  not  always  practising  upon 
poppets  made  of  clouts,  wax,  or  other  materials,  (according  to  the  old  meth¬ 
ods  of  witchcraft);  for  natural  actions  in  them  seemed  to  produce  preternatu¬ 
ral  impressions  on  the  afflicted,  as  biting  their  lips  in  time  of  examination 
and  trial  caused  the  sufferers  to  be  bitten  so  as  they  produced  the  marks 
before  the  magistrates  and  spectators:  the  accused  pinching  their  hands 
together  seemed  to  cause  the  sufferers  to  be  pinched;  those  again  stamping 
with  their  feet,  these  were  tormented  in  their  legs  and  feet,  so  as  they  stamped 
fearfully.  After  all  this,  if  the  accused  did  but  lean  against  the  bar  at 
which  they  stood,  some  very  sober  women  of  the  afflicted  complained-  of  their 
breasts,  as  if  their  bowels  were  torn  out;  thus,  some  have  since  confessed, 
they  were  wont  to  afflict  such  as  -were  the  objects  of  their  malice. 

4.  Several  were  accused  of  having  familiarity  with  the  black-man  in  time 
of  examination  and  trial;  and  that  he  whispered  in  their  ears,  and  therefore 
thej' could  not  hear  the  magistrates;  and  that  one  woman  accused  rid  (in 
her  shape  and  spectre)  by  the  place  of  judicature,  behind  the  black  man,  in 
the  very  time  when  she  was  upon  examination. 

5.  When  the  suspected  were  standing  at  the  bar,  the  afflicted  have  affirmed 
that  they  saw  their  shapes  in  other  places  suckling  a  yellow  bird;  some¬ 
times  in  one  place  and  posture,  and  sometimes  in  another.  They  also  fore¬ 
told  that  the  spectre  of  the  prisoner  was  going  to  afflict  such  or  such  a  sufferer 
which  presently  fell  out  accordingly. 

6.  They  w'ere  accused  by  the  sufferers  to  keep  days  of  hellish  fasts  and 
thanksgivings;  and,  upon  one  of  their  fast-days,  they  told  a  sufferer  she  must 
not  eat,  rt  was  fast-day.  She  said  she  would:  they  told  her  they  would 
choke  her  then,  which,  when  she  did  eat,  was  endeavored. 

7.  They  were  also  accused  to  hold  and  administer  diabolical  sacraments; 
viz.,  a  mock-baptism  and  a  Devil-snpper,  at  which  cursed  imitations  of  the 
sacred  institutions  of  our  blessed  Lord  they  used  forms  of  words  to  be  trem¬ 
bled  at  in  the  very  rehearsing:  concerning  baptism  I  shall  speak  elsewhere. 
At  their  cursed  supper,  they  were  said  to  have  red  bread  and  red  drink;  and, 
when  they  pressed  an  afflicted  person  to  eat  and  drink  thereof,  she  turned 
away  her  head,  and  spit  at  it,  and  said,  “  I  will  not  eat,  I  will  not  drink:  it 
is  blood.  That  is  not  the  bread  of  life,  that  is  not  the  water  of  life;  and  I  will 
have  none  of  yours.”  Thus  horribly  doth  Satan  endeavor  to  have  his  king¬ 
dom  and  administrations  to  resemble  those  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

8.  Some  of  the  most  sober  afflicted  persons,  when  they  were  well,  did 
affirm  the  spectres  of  such  and  such  as  they  did  complain  of  in  their  tits  did 
appear  to  them,  and  could  relate  what  passed  betwixt  them  and  the  appa¬ 
ritions,  after  their  tits  were  over,  and  give  account  after  what  manner  they 
w'ere  hurt  by  them. 

9.  Several  of  the  accused  would  neither  in  time  of  examination  nor  trial 


534 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


confess  any  tiling  of  what  was  laid  to  their  charge:  some  would  not  admit  of 
any  minister  to  pray  with  them,  others  refused  to  pray  for  themselves.  It 
was  said  by  some  of  the  confessing  witches,  that  such  as  have  received  the 
Devil-sacrament  can  never  confess:  only  one  woman  condemned,  after 
the  death-warrant  was  signed,  freely  confessed,  which  occasioned  her  re- 
prieval  for  some  time;  and  it  was  observable  this  woman  had  one  lock  of 
hair  of  a  very  great  length,  viz.,  four  foot  and  seven  inches  long  by  measure. 
This  lock  was  of  a  different  color  from  all  the  rest,  which  was  short  and 
gray.  It  grew  on  the  hinder  part  of  her  head,  and  was  matted  together  like 
an  elf-lock.  The  Court  ordered  it  to  be  cut  off,  to  which  she  was  very  un¬ 
willing,  and  said  she  was  told  if  it  were  cut  off  she  should  die  or  be  sick; 
yet  the  Court  ordered  it  so  to  be. 

10.  A  person  who  had  been  frequently  transported  to  and  fro  by  the  devils 
for  the  space  of  near  two  years,  was  struck  dumb  for  about  nine  months  of 
that  time;  yet  he,  after  that,  had  his  speech  restored  to  him,  and  did  de¬ 
pose  upon  oath,  that,  in  the  time  while  he  vras  dumb,  he  was  many  times 
bodily  transported  to  places  where  the  witches  were  gathered  together,  and 
that  he  there  saw  feasting  and  dancing;  and,  being  struck  on  the  back  or 
shoulder,  was  thereby  made  fast  to  the  place,  and  could  only  see  and  hear  at 
a  distance.  He  did  take  his  oath  that  he  did,  with  his  bodily  eyes,  see  some 
of  the  accused  at  those  witch-meetings  several  times.  I  was  present  in  court 
when  he  gave  his  testimony.  He  also  proved  by  sundry  persons,  that,  at  those 
times  of  transport,  he  was  bodily  absent  from  his  abode,  and  could  nowhere 
be  found,  but  being  met  with  by  some  on  the  road,  at  a  distance  from  his 
home,  was  suddenly  conveyed  away  from  them. 

11.  The  afflicted  persons  related  that  the  spectres  of  several  eminent  per¬ 
sons  had  been  brought  in  amongst  the  rest;  but,  as  the  sufferers  said  the 
Devil  could  not  hurt  them  in  their  shapes,  but  two  witches  seemed  to  take 
them  by  each  hand,  and  lead  them  or  force  them  to  come  in. 

12.  Whiles  a  godly  man  was  at  prayer  with  a  woman  afflicted,  the 
daughter  of  that  woman  (being  a  sufferer  in  the  like  kind)  affirmed  that  she 
saw  two  of  the  persons  accused  at  prayer  to  the  Devil. 

13.  It  was  proved  by  substantial  evidences  against  one  person  accused, 
that  he  had  such  an  unusual  strength  (though  a  very  little  man),  that  he 
could  hold  out  a  gun  with  one  hand  behind  the  lock,  which  was  near  seven 
foot  in  the  barrel,  being  as  much  as  a  lusty  man  could  command  with  both 
hands  after  the  usual  manner  of  shooting.  It  was  also  proved,  that  he  lifted 
barrels  of  meat  and  barrels  of  molasses  out  of  a  canoe  alone,  and  that  putting 
his  fingers  into  a  barrel  of  molasses  (full  within  a  finger’s  length  according  to 
custom)  he  carried  it  several  paces;  and  that  he  put  his  finger  into  the 
muzzle  of  a  gun  which  was  more  than  five  foot  in  the  barrel,  and  lifted  up 
the  butt-end  thereof,  lock,  stock,  and  all,  without  any  visible  help  to  raise  it. 
It  was  also  testified,  that,  being  abroad  with  his  wife  and  his  wife’s  brother, 
he  occasionally  staid  behind,  letting  his  wife  and  her  brother  walk  forward; 
but,  suddenly  coming  up  with  them,  he  was  angry  with  his  wife  for  what 


APPENDIX. 


535 


discourse  had  passed  betwixt  her  and  her  brother:  they  wondering  how  he 
should  know  it,  he  said,  “  I  know  your  thoughts;  ”  at  which  expression,  they, 
being  amazed,  asked  him  how  he  could  do  that;  he  said,  “My  God,  whom  I 
serve,  makes  known  your  thoughts  to  me.” 

I  was  present  when  these  things  were  testified  against  him,  and  observed 
that  he  could  not  make  any  plea  for  himself  (in  these  things)  that  had  any 
weight:  he  had  the  liberty  of  challenging  his  jurors  before  empanelling,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  statute  in  that  case,  and  used  his  liberty  in  challenging  many; 
yet  the  jury  that  were  sworn  brought  him  in  guilty. 

14.  The  magistrates  privately  examined  a  child  of  four  or  five  years  of 
age,  mentioned  in  the  remarks  of  the  afflicted,  sect.  11:  [p.  530]  and  the 
child  told  them  it  had  a  little  snake  which  used  to  suck  on  the  lowest  joint 
of  its  forefinger;  and,  when  they  (inquiring  where)  pointed  to  other  places, 
it  told  them  not  there  but  Acre,  pointing  on  the  lowest  joint  of  the  forefinger, 
where  they  observed  a  deep  red  spot  about  the  bigness  of  a  flea-bite.  They 
asked  it  who  gave  it  that  snake,  whether  the  black  man  gave  it  :  the  child 
said  no.  its  mother  gave  it.  I  heard  this  child  examined  by  the  magistrates. 

15.  It  was  proved  by  sundry  testimonies  against  some  of  the  accused,  that, 
upon  their  malicious  imprecations,  wishes,  or  threatenings,  many  observable 
deaths  and  diseases,  with  many  other  odd  inconveniences,  have  happened  to 
cattle  and  other  estate  of  such  as  were  so  threatened  by  them,  and  some 
to  the  persons  of  men  and  women. 


KEMAKKABLE  THINGS  CONFESSED  BY  SOME  SUSPECTED  OF  BEING 
GUILTY  OF  WITCHCRAFT. 

1.  It  pleased  God,  for  the  clearer  discovery  of  those  mysteries  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  so  to  dispose,  that  several  persons,  men,  women,  and 
children,  did  confess  their  hellish  deeds,  as  followeth:  — 

2.  They  confessed  against  themselves  that  they  were  witches,  told  how 
long  they  had  been  so,  and  how  it  came  about  that  the  Devil  appeared  to 
them ;  viz.,  sometimes  upon  discontent  at  their  mean  condition  in  the  world, 
sometimes  about  fine  clothes,  sometimes  for  the  gratifying  other  carnal  and 
sensual  lusts.  Satan  then,  upon  his  appearing  to  them,  made  them  fair 
(though  false)  promises,  that,  if  they  would  yield  to  him,  and  sign  his  book, 
their  desires  should  be  answered  to  the  uttermost,  whereupon  they  signed  it; 
and  thus  the  accursed  confederacy  was  confirmed  betwixt  them  and  the 
Prince  of  Darkness. 

3.  Some  did  affirm  that  there  were  some  hundreds  of  the  society  of 
witches,  considerable  companies  of  whom  were  affirmed  to  muster  in  arms  by 
beat  of  drum.  In  time  of  examinations  and  trials,  they  declared  that  such  a 
man  was  wont  to  call  them  together  from  all  quarters  to  witch-meetings  with 
the  sound  of  a  diabolical  trumpet. 

4.  Being  brought  to  see  the  prisoners  at  the  bar  upon  their  trials,  they 
did  affirm  in  open  court  (I  was  then  present),  that  they  had  oftentimes  seen 


53  G 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


them  at  witch-meetings,  where  was  feasting,  dancing,  and  jollity,  as  also  at 

Devil-sacraments;  and  particularly  that  they  saw  such  a  man - amongst 

the  rest  of  the  cursed  crew,  and  affirmed  that  he  did  administer  the  sacra¬ 
ment  of  Satan  to  them,  encouraging  them  to  go  on  in  their  way,  and  they 

should  certainly  prevail.  They  said  also  that  such  a  woman - was  a 

deacon,  and  served  in  distributing  the  diabolical  elements :  they  affirmed  that 
there  were  great  numbers  of  the 'witches. 

5.  They  affirmed  that  many  C.  \^se  wretched  souls  had  been  baptized  at 
Newbury  Falls,  and  at  several  other  rivers  and  ponds;  and,  as  to  the  manner 
of  administration,  the  great  Officer  of  Hell  took  them  up  by  the  body,  and, 
putting  their  heads  into  the  water,  said  over  them,  “Thou  art  mine,  I  have 
full  power  over  thee :  and  thereupon  they  engaged  and  covenanted  to  renounce 
God,  Christ,  their  sacred  baptism,  and  the  whole  way  of  Gospel  salvation, 
and  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  oppose  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  to 
set  up  and  advance  the  kingdom  of  Satan. 

6.  Some,  after  they  had  confessed,  were  very  penitent,  and  did  wring  their 
hands,  and  manifest  a  distressing  sense  of  what  they  had  done,  and  were  by 
the  mercies  of  God  recovered  out  of  those  snares  of  the  kingdom  of  dark¬ 
ness. 

7.  Several  have  confessed  against  their  own  mothers,  that  they  were  in¬ 
struments  to  bring  them  into  the  Devil’s  covenant,  to  the  undoing  of  them, 
body  and  soul;  and  some  girls  of  eight  or  nine  years  of  age  did  declare,  that, 
after  they  wrere  so  betrayed  by  their  mothers  to  the  power  of  Satan,  they  saw 
the  Devil  go  in  their  own  shapes  to  afflict  others. 

8.  Some  of  those  that  confessed  were  immediately  afflicted  at  a  dreadful 
rate,  after  the  same  manner  with  the  other  sufferers. 

9.  Some  of  them  confessed,  that  they  did  afflict  the  sufferers  according  to 
the  time  and  manner  they  were  accused  thereof ;  and,  being  asked  what  they 
did  to  afflict  them,  some  said  that  they  pricked  pins  into  poppets  made  with 
rags,  wax,  and  other  materials :  one  that  confessed  after  the  signing  the  death- 
warrant  said  she  used  to  afflict  them  by  clutching  and  pinching  her  hands 
together,  and  wishing  in  what  part  and  after  what  manner  she  would  have 
them  afflicted,  and  it  was  done. 

10.  They  confessed  the  design  was  laid  by  this  witchcraft  to  root  out  the 
interest  of  Christ  in  New  England,  and  that  they  began  at  the  Village  in 
order  to  settling  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and  the  powers  thereof ;  declaring 

that  such  a  man - was  to  be  head  conjurer,  and  for  his  activity  in  that 

affair  was  to  be  crowned  king  of  hell,  and  that  such  a  woman - was  to  be 

queen  of  hell. 

Thus  I  have  given  my  reader  a  brief  and  true  account  of  those  fearful 
and  amazing  operations  and  intrigues  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness:  and  I  must 
call  them  so ;  for,  let  some  persons  be  as  incredulous  as  they  please  about  the 
powerful  and  malicious  influence  of  evil  angels  upon  the  minds  and  bodies  of 
mankind,  sure  I  am  none  that  observed  those  things  above  mentioned  could 
refer  them  to  any  other  head  than  the  sovereign  permission  of  the  holy  God, 


APPENDIX. 


537 


and  the  malicious  operations  of  his  and  our  implacable  enemy.  I  have  here 
related  nothing  more  than  what  was  acknowledged  to  be  true  by  the  judges 
that  sat  on  the  bench,  and  other  credible  persons  there,  which  I  have  without 
prejudice  or  partiality  represented. 

I  therefore  close  all  with  my  uncessant  prayers,  that  the  great  and  ever¬ 
lasting  Jehovah  would,  for  the  sake  of  his  blessed  Son,  our  most  glorious 
intercessor,  rebuke  Satan,  and  so  vanquish  him,  from  time  to  time,  that  his 
power  may  be  more  and  more  every  day  suppressed,  his  kingdom  destroyed; 
and  that  all  his  malicious  and  accursed  instruments  in  those  spiritual  wicked¬ 
nesses  may  gnash  their  teeth,  melt  away,  and  be  ashamed  in  their  secret 
places,  till  they  come  to  be  judged  and  condemned  unto  the  place  of  ever¬ 
lasting  burnings  prepared  for  the  Devil  and  his  angels,  that  they  may  there 
be  tormented  with  him  for  ever  and  ever. 


538 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


III. 

LETTER  FROM  R.  P.  TO  JONATHAN  CORWIN. 

Salisbury,  Aug.  9, 1692. 

Honored  Sir, — According  as  in  my  former  to  you  I  hinted  that  I  held' 
myself  obliged  to  give  you  some  farther  account  of  my  rude  though  solemn 
thoughts  of  that  great  case  now  before  you,  the  happy  management  whereof 
do  so  much  conduce  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  safety  and  tranquillity  of  the 
country,  besides  what  I  have  said  in  my  former  and  the  enclosed,  I  further 
humbly  present  to  consideration  the  doubtfulness  and  unsafety  of  admitting 
spectre  testimony  against  the  life  of  any  that  are  of  blameless  conversation, 
and  plead  innocent,  from  the  uncertainty  of  them  and  the  incredulity  of  them; 
for  as  for  diabolical  visions,  apparitions,  or  representations,  they  are  more 
commonly  false  and  delusive  than  real,  and  cannot  be  known  when  they  are 
real  and  when  feigned,  but  by  the  Devil’s  report;  and  then  not  to  be 
believed,  because  he  is  the  father  of  lies. 

1.  Either  the  organ  of  the  eye  is  abused  and  the  senses  deluded,  so  as  to 
think  they  do  see  or  hear  some  thing  or  person,  when  indeed  they  do  not,  and 
this  is  frequent  with  common  jugglers. 

2.  The  Devil  himself  appears  in  the  shape  and  likeness  of  a  person  or 
thing,  when  it  is  not  the  person  or  thing  itself;  so  he  did  in  the  shape  of 
Samuel. 

3.  And  sometimes  persons  or  things  themselves  do  really  appear,  but 
how  it  is  possible  for  any  one  to  give  a  true  testimony,  which  possibly  did  see 
neither  shape  nor  person,  but  were  deluded;  and  if  they  did  see  any  thing, 
they  know  not  whether  it  was  the  person  or  but  his'  shape.  All  that  can  be 
rationally  or  truly  said  in  such  a  case  is  this,  —  that  I  did  see  the  shape  or 
likeness  of  such  a  person,  if  my  senses  or  eyesight  were  not  deluded:  and 
they  can  honestly  say  no  more,  because  they  know  no  more  (except  the  Devil 
tells  them  more);  and  if  he  do,  they  can  but  say  he  told  them  so.  But  the 
matter  is  still  incredible:  first,  because  it  is  but  their  saying  the  Devil  told 
them  so;  if  he  did  so  tell  them,  yet  the  verity  of  the  thing  remains  still  un¬ 
proved,  because  the  Devil  was  a  liar  and  a  murtlierer  (John  viii.  44),  and 
may  tell  these  lies  to  murder  an  innocent  person. 

But  this  case  seems  to  be  solved  by  an  assertion  of  some,  that  affirm  that 
the  Devil  do  not  or  cannot  appear  in  the  shape  of  a  godly  person,  to  do  hurt: 
others  affirm  the  contrary,  and  say  that  he  can  and  often  have  so  done,  of 


APPENDIX. 


539 


which  they  give  many  instances  for  proof  of  what  they  say;  which  if  granted, 
the  case  remains  yet  unsolved,  and  yet  the  very  hinge  upon  which  that 
weighty  case  depends.  To  which  I  humbly  say:  First,  That  I  do  lament 
that  such  a  point  should  be  so  needful  to  be  determined,  which  seems  not 
probable,  if  possible,  to  be  determined  to  infallible  satisfaction  for  want  of 
clear  Scripture  to  decide  it  by,  though  very  rational  to  be  believed  according 
to  rules;  as,  for  instance,  if  divers  examples  are  alleged  of  the  shape  of  per¬ 
sons  that  have  been  seen,  of  whom  there  is  ample  testimony  that  they  lived 
and  died  in  the  faith,  yet,  saith  the  objecter,  ’tis  possible  they  may  be  hypo¬ 
crites,  therefore  the  proof  not  infallible:  and  as  it  may  admit  of  such  an 
objection  against  the  reasons  given  on  the  affirmative,  much  more  may  the 
same  objection  be  made  against  the  negative,  for  which  they  can  or  do  give 
no  reason  at  all,  nor  can  a  negative  be  proved  (therefore  difficult  to  be  deter¬ 
mined  to  satisfy  infallibly);  but,  seeing  it  must  be  discussed,  I  humbly  offer 
these  few  words :  First,  I  humbly  conceive  that  the  saints  on  earth  are  not 
more  privileged  in  that  case  than  the  saints  in  heaven ;  but  the  Devil  may 
appear  in  the  shape  of  a  saint  in  heaven,  namely,  in  the  shape  of  Samuel 
(1  Sam.  xxviii.  13,  14);  therefore  he  can  or  may  represent  the  shape  of  a 
saint  that  is  upon  the  earth.  Besides,  there  may  be  innocent  persons  that 
are  not  saints,  and  their  innocency  ought  to  be  their  security,  as  well  as  godly 
men's;  and  I  hear  nobody  question  but  the  Devil  may  take  their  shape. 

Secondly,  It  doth  not  hurt  any  man  or  woman  to  present  the  shape  or  like¬ 
ness  of  an  innocent  person,  more  than  for  a  limner  or  carver  to  draw  his 
picture,  and  show  it,  if  he  do  not  in  that  form  do  some  evil  (nor  then  neither) : 
if  the  laws  of  man  do  not  oblige  him  to  suffer  for  what  the  Devil  doth  in  his 
shape,  the  laws  of  God  do  not. 

Thirdly,  The  Devil  had  power,  by  God’s  permission,  to  take  the  very  person 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  day  or  time  of  his  humiliation,  and  carry 
him  from  place  to  place,  and  tempted  him  with  temptations  of  horrid  blas¬ 
phemy,  and  yet  left  him  innocent.  Why  may  we  not  suppose  the  like  may  be 
done  to  a  good  man  ?  And  why  not  much  more  appear  in  his  shape  (or 
make  folk  think  it  is  his  shape,  when  indeed  it  is  not),  and  yet  the  person  be 
innocent,  being  far  enough  off,  and  not  knowing  of  it,  nor  would  consent  if 
he  had  known  it,  his  profession  and  conversation  being  otherwise  ? 

Fourthly,  I  suppose  ’tis  granted  by  all,  that  the  person  of  one  that  is  dead 
cannot  appear,  because  the  soul  and  body  are  separated,  and  so  the  person  is 
dissolved,  and  so  ceaseth  to  be:  and  it  is  as  certain  that  the  person  of  the 
living  cannot  be  in  two  places  at  one  time,  but  he  that  is  at  Boston  cannot  be 
at  Salem  or  Cambridge  at  the  same  time;  but  as  the  malice  and  envy  in  the 
Devil  makes  it  his  business  to  seek  whom  he  may  devour,  so  no  question  but 
he  doth  infuse  the  same  quality  into  those  that  leave  Jesus  Christ  to  embrace 
him,  that  they  do  envy  those  that  are  innocent,  and  upon  that  account  be  as 
ready  to  sa}r  and  swear  that  they  did  see  them  as  the  Devil  is  to  present  their 
shape  to  them.  Add  but  this  also,  that,  when  they  are  once  under  his  power, 
he  puts  them  on  headlong  (they  must  needs  go  whom  the  Devil  drives,  saith 


540 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


the  proverb),  and  the  reason  is  clear,  —  because  they  are  taken  captive  by  him, 
to  do  his  will.  And  we  see,  by  woful  and  undeniable  experience,  both  in  the 
aillicted  persons  and  the  confessors,  some  of  them,  that  he  torments  them  at 
his  pleasure,  to  force  them  to  accuse  others.  Some  are  apt  to  doubt  they  do 
but  counterfeit;  but,  poor  souls!  I  am  utterly  of  another  mind,  and  I  lament 
them  with  all  my  heart;  but,  take  which  you  please,  the  case  is  the  same  as 
to  the  main  issue.  For,  if  they  counterfeit,  the  wickedness  is  the  greater  in 
them,  and  the  less  in  the  Devil:  but  if  they  be  compelled  to  it  by  the  Devil, 
against  their  wills,  then  the  sin  is  the  Devil’s,  and  the  sufferings  theirs;  but 
if  their  testimonies  be  allowed  of,  to  make  persons  guilty  by,  the  lives  of 
innocent  persons  are  alike  in  danger  by  them,  which  is  the  solemn  considera¬ 
tion  that  do  disquiet  the  country. 

Now,  that  the  only  wise  God  may  so  direct  you  in  all,  that  he  may 
have  glory,  the  country  peace  and  safety,  and  your  hands  strengthened  in 
that  great  work,  is  the  desire  and  constant  prayer  of  your  humble  servant, 
R.  P.,  who  shall  no  further  trouble  you  at  present. 

Position.  —  That  to  put  a  witch  to  death  is  the  command  of  God,  and 
therefore  the  indispensable  duty  of  man,  — namely,  the  magistrate  (Ex.  xxii. 
18);  which,  granted,  resolves  two  questions  that  I  have  heard  made  by 
some :  — 

First,  Whether  there  arc  any  such  creatures  as  witches  in  the  world. 
Secondly,  If  there  be,  whether  they  can  be  known  to  be  such  by  men:  both 
which  must  be  determined  on  the  affirmative,  or  else  that  commandment  were 
in  vain. 

Position  Second.  —  That  it  must  be  witches  that  are  put  to  death,  and  not 
innocent  persons:  “  Thou  shalt  not  condemn  the  innocent  nor  the  righteous  ” 
(Ex.  xxiii.  7). 

Query.  —  Which  premised,  it  brings  to  this  query',  —  namely,  how  a  witch 
may  be  known  to  be  a  witch. 

Answer.  —  First,  By  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses  (Deut.  xix.  15; 
Matt,  xviii.  16 ;  Deut.  xvii.  G).  Secondly,  They"  may  be  known  by  their  own 
confession,  being  compos  mentis ,  and  not  under  horrid  temptation  to  self- 
murther  (2  Sam.  xvi. ;  Josh.  vii.  16). 

Query  Second.  —  What  is  it  that  those  two  or  three  witnesses  must  swear? 
Must  they  swear  that  such  a  person  is  a  witch?  Will  that  do  the  thing,  as  is 
vulgarly  supposed? 

Answer.  —  I  think  that  is  too  unsafe  to  go  by,  as  well  as  hard  to  be  done 
by  the  advised:  First,  because  it  would  expose  the  lives  of  all  alike  to  the 
pleasure  or  passion  of  those  that  are  minded  to  take  them  away";  secondly", 
because  that,  in  such  a  testimony,  the  witnesses  are  not  only"  informers  in 
matter  of  fact,  but  sole  judges  of  the  crime,  —  which  is  the  proper  work  of  the 
judges,  and  not  of  witnesses. 

Query  Third.  —  What  is  it  that  the  witnesses  must  testify"  in  the  case,  to 
prove  one  to  be  a  witch? 


APPENDIX. 


541 


Answer.  —  They  must  witness  the  person  did  put  forth  some  act  which,  if 
true,  was  an  act  of  witchcraft,  or  familiarity  with  the  Devil,  the  witness 
attest  the  fact  to  be  upon  his  certain  knowledge,  and  the  judges  to  judge 
that  fact  to  be  such  a  crime. 

Query  Fourth.  —  What  acts  are  they  which  must  be  proved  to  be  com¬ 
mitted  by  a  person,  that  shall  be  counted  legal  proof  of  witchcraft,  or  famili¬ 
arity  with  the  Devil  ? 

Answer.  —  This  I  do  profess  to  be  so  hard  a  question,  for  want  of  light  from 
the  Word  of  God  and  laws  of  men,  that  I  do  not  know  what  to  say  to  it;  and 
therefore  humbly  conceive,  that,  in  such  a  difficulty,  it  may  be  more  safe,  for 
the  present,  to  let  a  guilty  person  live  till  further  discovery,  than  to  put  an 
innocent  person  to  death. 

First,  Because  a  guilty  person  may  afterward  be  discovered,  and  so  put 
to  death;  but  an  innocent  person  to  be  put  to  death  cannot  be  brought  again 
to  life  when  once  dead. 

Secondly,  Because  secret  things  belong  to  God  only,  but  revealed  things 
to  us  and  to  our  children.  And  though  it  be  so  difficult  sometimes,  yet 
witches  there  are,  and  may  be  known  by  some  acts  or  other  put  forth  by 
them,  that  may  render  them  such ;  for  Scripture  examples,  I  can  remember 
but  few  in  the  Old  Testament,  besides  Balaam  (Num.  xxii.  6,  xxxi.  16). 

First,  The  sorcerers  of  Egypt  could  not  tell  the  interpretation  of  Fharaoh's 
dream,  though  he  told  them  his  dream  (Gen.  xli.  8):  his  successors  after¬ 
wards  had  sorcerers,  that  by  enchantments  did,  first,  turn  their  rods  into 
serpents  (Exod.  vii.  11, 12);  second,  turned  water  into  blood;  thirdly,  brought 
frogs  upon  the  land  of  Egypt  (Exod.  viii.  7). 

Thirdly,  Nebuchadnezzar’s  magicians  said  that  they  would  tell  him  the 
interpretation,  if  he  would  tell  them  his  dream  (Dan.  iv.  7);  but  the  king 
did  not  believe  them  (ver.  8,  9). 

Fourthly,  The  Witch  of  Endor  raised  the  Devil,  in  the  likeness  of  Samuel, 
to  tell  Saul  his  fortune;  and  Saul  made  use  of  him  accordingly  (1  Sam. 
xxviii.  8,  11-15);  and,  as  for  New  Testament,  I  see  very  little  of  that 
nature.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  did  cast  out  many  devils,  and  so  did  his 
disc'ples,  both  while  he  was  upon  earth  and  afterward,  of  which  some  were 
dreadfully  circumstanced  (Mark  ix.  18;  Mark  v.  2-5);  but  of  witches, 
we  only  read  of  four  mentioned  in  the  apostles’  time:  fir-t,  Simon  Magus 
(Acts  viii.  9,  11);  secondly,  Elymas  the  sorcerer  (Acts  xiii.  6,  8);  thirdly, 
the  seven  sons  of  Sceva,  a  Jew,  that  were  vagabond  Jews,  —  exorcists  (Acts 
xix.  13-16);  fourthly,  the  girl  which,  by  a  spirit  of  divination,  brought 
her  master  much  gain  (Acts  xvi.  16),  whether  it  were  by  telling  fortunes  or 
finding  out  lost  things,  as  our  cunning  men  do,  is  not  said;  but  something  it 
was  that  was  done  by  that  spirit  which  was  in  her,  which,  being  cast  out,  she 
could  not  do.  Now,  whatever  was  done  by  any  of  these,  by  the  help  of 
the  Devil,  or  by  virtue  of  familiarity  with  him,  or  that  the  Devil  did  do  by 
their  consent  or  instigation,  it  is  that  which,  the  like  being  now  proved  to  be 
done  by  others,  is  legal  conviction  of  witchcraft,  or  familiarity  with  the 
Devil. 


542 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


As  I  remember,  Mr.  Perkins  apprehends  witchcraft  may  be  sometimes 
committed  by  virtue  of  an  implicit  covenant  with  the  Devil,  though  there  be 
not  explicit  covenant  visibly  between  them ;  namely,  by  using  such  words 
and  gestures  whereby  they  do  intimate  to  the  Devil  what  they  would  have 
him  do,  and  he  doth  it. 

3.  To  tell  events  contingent,  or  to  bring  any  thing  to  pass  by  supernatu¬ 
ral  means,  or  by  no  means. 

I  have  heard  of  some  that  make  a  circle,  and  mumble  over  some  uncouth 
words;  and  some  that  have  been  spiteful  and  suspicious  persons,  that  have 
sent  for  a  handful  of  thatch  from  the  house  or  barn  of  him  that  they  have 
owed  a  spite  to,  and  the  house  have  been  burnt  as  they  had  burnt  the  thatch 
that  they  fetched. 

When  Captain  Smith  was  cast  away  in  the  ship  built  by  Mr.  Stevens  at 
Gloucester,  many  years  ago,  it  was  said  that  the  woman  that  was  accused  for 
doing  it  did  put  a  dish  in  a  pail  of  water,  and  sent  her  girl  several  times  to 
see  the  motion  of  the  dish,  till  at  last  it  wras  turned  over,  and  then  the 
woman  said,  “  Now  Smith  is  gone,”  or  “  is  cast  away.” 

A  neighbor  of  mine,  who  was  a  Hampshire  man,  told  me  that  a  suspected 
woman  desired  something  of  some  of  the  family,  which  being  denied,  she 
either  muttered  or  threatened,  and  some  evil  suddenly  followed,  and  they 
put  her  into  a  cart  to  carry  her  to  Winchester;  and,  when  the}’  had  gone  a 
little  way,  the  team  could  not  move  the  cart,  though  in  plain  ground.  The 
master  commanded  to  carry  a  knitch  of  straw,  and  burn  her  in  the  cart; 
which  to  avoid,  she  said  they  should  go  along,  and  they  did.  This  they  did 
several  times  before  they  came  to  Winchester,  of  which  passages  the  men 
that  went  with  her  gave  their  oaths,  and  she  was  executed. 

Some  have  been  transformed  into  dogs,  cats,  hares,  hogs,  and  other 
creatures;  and  in  those  shapes  have  sometimes  received  wounds  which  have 
made  them  undeniably  guilty,  and  so  confessed.  Sometimes  having  their 
imps  sucking  them,  or  infallible  tokens  that  they  are  sucked,  in  the  search 
of  which  great  caution  to  be  given,  because  of  some  superfluities  of  nature, 
and  diseases  that  people  are  incident  unto,  as  the  piles,  &c.,  of  which  the 
judges  are,  upon  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses,  to  determine  what  of  crime 
is  proved  by  any  of  these  circumstances,  with  many  other,  in  which  God  is 
pleased  many  times,  bv  some  overt  acts,  to  bring  to  light  that  secret  wicked¬ 
ness  to  apparent  conviction,  sometimes  by  their  own  necessitated  confession, 
whereby  those  that  he  hath  commanded  to  be  put  to  death  may  be  known  to 
be  such,  which,  when  known,  then  it  is  a  duty  to  put  them  to  death,  and  not 
before,  though  they  were  as  guilty  before  as  then. 

There  are  two  queries  more  with  respect  to  what  is  proper  to  us  in  this 
juncture  of  time,  of  which  we  have  no  account  of  the  like  being  common  at 
other  times,  or  in  other  places;  namely,  these, — 

Query  Fifth.  —  The  fifth  query  is,  what  we  are  to  think  of  those  persons 
at  Salem,  or  the  Village,  before  whom  people  are  brought  for  detection,  or 
otherwise  to  be  concerned  with  them,  in  order  to  their  being  apprehended  or 
acquitted. 


APPENDIX. 


543 


Answer.  —  That  I  am,  of  all  men,  the  least  able  to  give  any  conjecture 
about  it,  because  I  do  not  know  it,  having  myself  never  seen  it,  nor  know 
nothing  of  it  but  by  report,  in  which  there  must  be  supposed  a  possibility  of 
some  mistake,  in  part  or  in  whole;  but  that  which  I  have  here  heard  is  this: 
First,  That  they  do  tell  who  are  witches,  of  which  some  they  know,  and 
some  they  do  not.  Secondly,  They  tell  who  did  torment  such  and  such  a 
person,  though  they  know  not  the  person.  Thirdly,  They  are  tormented 
themselves  by  the  looks  of  persons  that  are  present,  and  recovered  again  by 
the  touching  of  them.  Fourthly,  That,  if  they  look  to  them,  they  fall  down 
tormented;  but,  if  the  persons  accused  look  from  them,  they  recover,  or  do 
not  fall  into  that  torment.  Fifthly,  They  can  tell  when  a  person  is  coming 
before  they  see  them,  and  what  clothes  they  have,  and  some  what  they  have 
done  for  several  years  past,  which  nobody  else  ever  accused  them  with,  nor 
do  not  yet  think  them  guilty  of.  Sixthly,  That  the  dead  out  of  their  graves 
do  appear  unto  them,  and  tell  them  that  they  have  been  murdered,  and 
require  them  to  see  them  to  be  revenged  on  the  murtherers,  which  they 
name  to  them;  some  of  which  persons  are  well  known  to  die  their  natural 
deaths,  and  publicly  buried  in  the  sight  of  all  men.  Now,  if  these  things  be 
so,  I  thus  affirm,  — 

First,  That  whatsoever  is  done  by  them  that  is  supernatural,  is  either 
divine  or  diabolical. 

Secondly,  That  nothing  is,  or  can  be,  divine,  but  what  have  God’s  stamp 
upon  it,  to  which  he  refers  for  trial  (Isa.  viii.  19,  20):  “If  they  speak  not 
according  to  these,  there  is  no  light  in  them.” 

Thirdly,  And  by  that  rule  none  of  these  actions  of  theirs  have  any  war¬ 
rant  in  God’s  word,  but  condemned  wholly. 

First,  It  is  utterly  unlawful  to  inquire  of  the  dead,  or  to  be  informed  by 
them  (Isa.  viii.  19).  It  was  an  act  of  the  Witch  of  Endor  to  raise  the  dead, 
and  of  a  reprobate  Saul  to  inquire  of  him  (1  Sam.  xxviii.  8,  11-14;  Deut. 
xviii.  11). 

Secondly,  It  is  a  like  evil  to  seek  to  them  that  have  familiar  spirits  (Lev. 
xix.  31).  It  was  the  sin  of  Saul  in  the  forementioned  place  (1  Sam.  xxviii. 
8);  and  of  wicked  Manasses  (2  Kings,  xxi.  6). 

Thirdly,  No  more  is  it  likely  that  their  racking  and  tormenting  should  be 
done  by  God  or  good  angels,  but  by  the  Devil,  whose  manner  have  ever 
been  to  be  so  employed.  Witness  his  dealing  with  the  poor  child  (Mark  ix. 
17,  19,  20-22);  and  with  the  man  that  was  possessed  by  him  (Mark  v.  2-5); 
besides  what  he  did  to  Job  (Job  ii.  7);  and  all  the  lies  that  he  told  against 
him  to  the  very  face  of  God. 

Fourthly,  The  same  may  be  rationally  said  of  all  the  rest.  Who  should 
tell  them  things  that  they  do  not  see,  but  the  Devil;  especially  when  some 
things  that  they  tell  are  false  and  mistaken? 

Query  Sixth.  —  These  things  premised,  it  now  comes  to  the  last  and 
greatest  question  or  query ;  namely,  IIow  shall  it  be  known  when  the  Devil 
do  any  of  these  acts  of  his  own  proper  motion,  without  human  concurrence, 


544 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


consent,  or  instigation,  and  when  lie  doth  it  by  the  suggestion  or  consent  ot 
any  person  ?  This  question,  well  resolved,  would  do  our  business. 

First,  That  the  Devil  can  do  acts  supernatural  without  the  furtherance  of 
him  by  human  consent  or  concurrence ;  hut  men  or  women  cannot  do  them 
■without  the  help  of  the  Devil  (must  be  granted).  That  granted,  it  follows, 
that  the  Devil  is  always  the  doer,  but  whether  abetted  in  it  by  anybody  is 
uncertain. 

Secondly,  Will  it  be  sufficient  for  the  Devil  himself  to  say  such  a  man  or 
woman  set  him  a  work  to  torment  such  a  person  by  looking  upon  him ?  Is 
the  Devil  a  competent  witness  in  such  a  case? 

Thirdly,  Or  are  those  that  are  tormented  by  him  legal  witnesses  to  say 
that  the  Devil  doth  it  by  the  procurement  of  such  a  person,  whenas  they 
know  nothing  about  it  but  what  comes  to  them  from  the  Devil  (that  tor¬ 
ments  them)? 

Fourthly,  May  we  believe  the  witches  that  do  accuse  any  one  because 
they  say  so  (can  the  fruit  be  better  than  the  tree)?  If  the  root  of  all  their 
knowledge  be  the  Devil,  what  must  their  testimony  be  ? 

Fifthly,  Their  testimony  may  be  legal  against  themselves,  because  they 
know  what  themselves  do,  but  cannot  know  what  another  doth  but  by  infor¬ 
mation  from  the  Devil  :  I  mean  in  such  cases  when  the  person  accused  do 
deny  it,  and  his  conversation  is  blameless  (Prov.  xviii.  5;  Prov.  xix.  5). 

First,  It  is  directly  contrary  to  the  use  of  reason,  the  law  of  nature,  and 
principles  of  humanity,  to  deny  it,  and  plead  innocent,  when  accused  of 
witchcraft,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  to  be  acting  witchcraft  in  the  sight 
of  all  men,  when  they  know  their  lives  lie  at  stake  by  doing  it.  Sell-interest 
teaches  every  one  better. 

Secondly,  It  is  contrary  to  the  Devil’s  nature,  or  common  practice,  to 
accuse  witches.  They  are  a  considerable  part  of  his  kingdom,  which  would 
fall,  if  divided  against  itself  (Matt.  xii.  26);  except  we  think  he  that  spake 
the  words  understood  not  what  he  said  (which  were  blasphemy  to  think);  or 
that  those  common  principles  or  maxims  are  now  changed;  or  that  the 
Devil  have  changed  his  nature,  and  is  now  become  a  reformer  to  purge  out 
witches  out  of  the  world,  out  of  the  country,  and  out  of  the  churches;  and  is 
to  be  believed,  though  a  liar  and  a  murtherer  from  the  beginning,  and  also 
though  his  business  is  going  about  continually,  seeking  whom  he  may 
destroy  (1  Pet.  v.  8);.  and  his  peculiar  subject  of  his  accusation  are  the 
brethren :  called  the  accuser  of  the  brethren. 

Objection.  —  God  do  sometimes  bring  things  to  light  by  his  providence  in 
a  way  extraordinary. 

Answer.  —  It  is  granted  God  have  so  done,  and  brought  hidden  things  to 
light,  which,  upon  examination,  have  been  proved  or  confessed,  and  so  the 
way  is  clear  for  their  execution;  but  what  is  that  to  this  case,  where  the 
Devil  is  accuser  and  witness  ? 


APPENDIX. 


545 


IV. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  MR.  PARRIS’S  CHURCH 

RECORDS. 


[The  following  passages  are  taken  from  the  records  of  the  Salem  Ullage  Church, 
as  specimens  of  Mr.  Parris’s  style  of  narrative  in  that  interesting  document,  and  as 
shedding  some  light  upon  the  subject  of  these  volumes :  — ] 

Sab:  4  Nov.  [1694].  —  After  sermon  in  the  afternoon,  it  was  propounded 
to  the  brethren,  whether  the  church  ought  not  to  inquire  again  of  our  dis¬ 
senting  brethren  after  the  reason  of  their  dissent.  Nothing  appearing  from 
any  against  it,  it  was  put  to  vote,  and  carried  in  the  affirmative  (by  all,  as 
far  as  I  know,  except  one  brother,  Josh:  Ilea),  that  Brother  Jno.  Tarbell 
should,  the  next  Lord’s  Day,  appear  and  give  in  his  reasons  in  public ;  the 
contrary  being  propounded,  if  any  had  aught  to  object  against  it.  But  no 
dissent  was  manifested;  and  so  Brother  Nathaniel  Putnam  and  Deacon 
Ingersoll  were  desired  to  give  this  message  from  the  church  to  the  said 
Brother  Tarbell. 

Sab  :  11  Nov.  —  Before  the  evening  blessing  was  pronounced,  Brother  Tar¬ 
bell  was  openly  called  again  and  again;  but,  he  not  appearing,  application 
was  made  to  the  abovesaid  church’s  messengers  for  his  answer:  whereupon 
said  Brother  Putnam  reported  that  the  said  Brother  Tarbell  told  him  he  did 
not  know  how  to  come  to  us  on  a  Lord’s  Day,  but  desired  rather  that  he 
might  make  his  appearance  some  week-day.  Whereupon  the  congregation 
was  dismissed  with  the  blessing:  and  the  church  stayed,  and,  by  a  full  vote, 
renewed  their  call  of  said  Brother  Tarbell  to  appear  the  next  Lord’s  Day  for 
the  ends  abovesaid;  and  Deacon  Putnam  and  Brother  Jonathan  Putnam 
were  desired  to  be  its  messengers  to  the  said  dissenting  brother. 

Sab:  18  Nov.  —  The  said  brother  came  in  the  afternoon ;  and,  after  ser¬ 
mon,  he  was  asked  the  reasons  for  his  withdrawing:  whereupon  he  produced 
a  paper,  which  he  was  urged  to  deliver  to  the  pastor  to  communicate  to  the 
church;  but  he  refused  it,  asking  who  was  the  church’s  mouth.  To  which, 
when  he  was  answered,  “  The  pastor,"  he  replied,  Not  in  this  case,  because 
his  offence  was  with  him.  The  pastor  demanded  whether  he  had  offence 
against  any  of  the  church  besides  the  pastor.  He  answered,  “No.”  So  at 
length  we  suffered  a  non-member,  Mr.  Jos :  Hutchinson,  to  read  it.  After 
vol.  II.  35 


546 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


which  the  pastor  read  openly  before  the  whole  congregation  his  overtures  for 
peace  and  reconciliation.  After  which  said  Tarbell,  seemingly  (at  least) 
much  affected,  said,  that,  if  half  so  much  had  been  said  formerly,  it  had 
never  come  to  this.  But  he  added  that  others  also  were  dissatisfied  besides 
himself:  and  therefore  he  desired  opportunity  that  they  might  come  also, 
which  was  immediately  granted;  viz.,  the  26  instant,  at  two  o’clock. 

26  Nov.  —  At  the'  public  meeting  above  appointed  at  the  meeting-house, 
after  the  pastor  had  first  sought  the  grace  of  God  with  us  in  prajTer,  he  then 
summed  up  to  the  church  and  congregation  (among  which  were  several 
strangers)  the  occasion  of  our  present  assembling,  as  is  hinted  the  last  meet¬ 
ing.  Then  seeing,  together  with  Brother  Tarbell,  two  more  of  our  dis¬ 
senting  brethren,  viz.,  Sam:  Nurse,  and  Thomas  Wilkins  (who  had,  to  suit 
their  designs,  placed  themselves  in  a  seat  conveniently  together),  the  church 
immediately,  to  save  further  sending  for  them,  voted  that  said  Brother 
Wilkins  and  Brother  Nurse  should  now,  together  with  Brother  Tarbell,  give 
in  their  reasons  of  withdrawing  from  the  church.  Then  the  pastor  applied 
himself  to  all  these  three  dissenters,  pressing  the  church’s  desire  upon  them. 
So  they  produced  a  paper,  which  they  much  opposed  the  coming  into  the 
pastor’s  hands,  and  his  reading  of  it;  but  at  length  they  yielded  to  it. 
Whilst  the  paper  was  reading,  Brother  Nurse  looked  upon  another  (which 
he  said  was  the  original):  and,  after  it  was  read  throughout,  he  said  it  was 
the  same  with  what  he  had.  Their  paper  was  as  followeth:  — 

“  The  reasons  why  we  withdraw  from  communion  with  the  church  of 
Salem  Village,  both  as  to  hearing  the  word  preached,  and  from  partaking 
with  them  at  the  Lord’s  Table,  are  as  followeth:  — 

“  1.  Why  we  attend  not  on  public  prayer  and  preaching  the  word,  these 
are,  (1.)  The  distracting  and  disturbing  tumults  and  noises  made  by  the 
persons  under  diabolical  power  and  delusions,  preventing  sometimes  our 
hearing  and  understanding  and  profiting  of  the  word  preached ;  we  having, 
after  many  trials  and  experiences,  found  no  redress  in  this  case,  accounted 
ourselves  under  a  necessity  to  go  where  we  might  hear  the  word  in  quiet. 
(2.)  The  apprehensions  of  danger  of  ourselves  being  accused  as  the  Devil’s 
instruments  to  molest  and  afflict  the  persons  complaining,  we  seeing  those 
whom  we  had  reason  to  esteem  better  than  ourselves  thus  accused,  blem¬ 
ished,  and  of  their  lives  bereaved,  foreseeing  this  evil,  thought  it  our  pru¬ 
dence  to  withdraw.  (3.)  We  found  so  frequent  and  positive  preaching  up 
some  principles  and  practices  by  Mr.  Parris,  referring  to  the  dark  and 
dismal  mysteries  of  iniquity  working  amongst  us,  as  was  not  profitable,  but 
offensive.  (4.)  Neither  could  we,  in  conscience,  join  with  Mr.  Parris  in 
many  of  the  requests  which  he  made  in  prayer,  referring  to  the  trouble  then 
among  us  and  upon  us;  therefore  thought  it  our  most  safe  and  peaceable 
way  to  withdraw. 

“  2.  The  reasons  why  we  hold  not  communion  with  them  at  the  Lord’s 


APPENDIX. 


547 


Table  are,  first,  ive  esteem  ourselves  justly  aggrieved  and  offended  with 
the  officer  who  doth  administer,  for  the  reasons  following:  (1.)  From  his 
declared  and  published  principles,  referring  to  our  molestation  from  the 
invisible  world,  differing  from  the  opinion  of  the  generality  of  the  Orthodox 
ministers  of  the  whole  country.  (2.)  His  easy  and  strong  faith  and  belief  of 
the  affirmations  and  accusations  made  by  those  they  call  the  afflicted.  (3.) 
Ilis  laying  aside  that  grace  which,  above  all,  we  are  required  to  put  on; 
namely,  charity  toward  his  neighbors,  and  especially  towards  those  of  his 
church,  when  there  is  no  apparent  reason  for  the  contrary.  (4.)  His  approv¬ 
ing  and  practising  unwarrantable  and  ungrounded  methods  for  discovering 
what  he  was  desirous  to  know  referring  to  the  bewitched  or  possessed  per¬ 
sons,  as  in  bringing  some  to  others,  and  by  and  from  them  pretending  to 
inform  himself  and  others  who  were  the  Devil’s  instruments  to  afflict  the 
sick  and  pained.  (5.)  Ilis  unsafe  and  unaccountable  oath,  given  by  him 
against  sundry  of  the  accused.  (6.)  His  not  rendering  to  the  world  so  fair, 
if  true,  an  account  of  what  he  wrote  on  examination  of  the  afflicted.  (7.) 
Sundry  unsafe,  if  sound,  points  of  doctrine  delivered  in  his  preaching,  which 
we  esteem  not  warrantable,  if  Christian.  (8.)  Ilis  persisting  in  these  princi¬ 
ples,  and  justifying  his  practices,  not  rendering  any  satisfaction  to  us  when 
regularly  desired,  but  rather  further  offending  and  dissatisfying  ourselves. 

“John  Tarbell. 

Tiio:  Wilkins. 

Sam:  Nurse.” 

When  the  pastor  had  read  these  charges,  he  asked  the  dissenters  above 
mentioned  whether  they  were  offended  with  none  in  the  church  besides 
himself.  They  replied,  that  they  articled  against  none  else.  Then  the 
officer  asked  them  if  they  withdrew  from  communion  upon  account  of  none 
in  the  church  besides  himself.  They  answered,  that  they  withdrew  only 
upon  my  account.  Then  I  read  them  my  “Meditations  for  Peace,”  men¬ 
tioned  18  instant;  viz.:  — 

“  Forasmuch  as  it  is  the  undoubted  duty  of  all  Christians  to  pursue  peace 
(Ps.  xxxiv.  14),  even  unto  a  reaching  of  it,  if  it  be  possible  (Rom.  xii.  18, 
19);  and  whereas,  through  the  righteous,  sovereign,  and  awful  Providence 
of  God,  the  Grand  Enemy  to  all  Christian  peace  has,  of  late,  been  most 
tremendously  let  loose  in  divers  places  hereabouts,  and  more  especially 
amongst  our  sinful  selves,  not  only  to  interrupt  that  partial  peace  which  we 
did  sometimes  enjoy,  but  also,  through  his  wiles  and  temptations  and  our 
weaknesses  and  corruptions,  to  make  wider  breaches,  and  raise  more  bitter 
animosities  between  too  many  of  us,  in  which  dark  and  difficult  dispensation 
we  have  been  all,  or  most  of  us,  of  one  mind  for  a  time,  and  afterwards  of 
differing  apprehensions,  and,  at  last,  are  but  in  the  dark,  —  upon  serious 
thoughts  of  all,  and  after  many  prayers,  I  have  been  moved  to  present  to 
you  (my  beloved  flock)  the  following  particulars,  in  way  of  contribution 


548 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


towards  a  regaining  of  Christian  concord  (if  so  be  we  are  not  altogether 
unappeasable,  irreconcilable,  and  so  destitute  of  the  good  spirit  which  is  first 
pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  James  iii.  17);  viz., 
(1.)  In  that  the  Lord  ordered  the  late  horrid  calamity  (which  afterwards, 
plague-like,  spread  in  many  other  places)  to  break  out  first  in  my  family,  I 
cannot  but  look  upon  as  a  very  sore  rebuke,  and  humbling  providence,  both 
to  myself  and  mine,  and  desire  so  we  may  improve  it.  (2.)  In  that  also  in 
my  family  were  some  of  both  parties,  viz.,  accusers  and  accused,  I  look  also 
upon  as  an  aggravation  of  the  rebuke,  as  an  addition  of  wormwood  to  the 
gall.  (3.)  In  that  means  were  used  in  my  family  (though  totally  unknown 
to  me  or  mine,  except  servants,  till  afterwards)  to  raise  spirits  and  create 
apparitions  in  no  better  than  a  diabolical  way,  I  do  look  upon  as  a  further 
rebuke  of  Divine  Providence.  And  by  all,  I  do  humbly  own  this  day, 
before  the  Lord  and  his  people,  that  God  has  been  righteously  spitting  in  my 
face  (Num.  xii.  14).  And  I  desire  to  lie  low  under  all  this  reproach,  and 
to  lay  my  hand  upon  my  mouth.  (4.)  As  to  the  management  of  those 
mysteries,  as  far  as  concerns  myself,  I  am  veiy  desirous  (upon  farther  light) 
to  own  any  errors  I  have  therein  fallen  into,  and  can  come  to  a  discerning  of. 
In  the  mean  while,  I  do  acknowledge,  upon  after-considerations,  that,  were 
the  same  troubles  again,  (which  the  Lord,  of  his  rich  mercy,  for  ever  prevent), 
I  should  not  agree  with  my  former  apprehensions  in  all  points;  as,  for 
instance,  (1.)  I  question  not  but  God  sometimes  suffers  the  Devil  (as  of  late) 
to  afflict  in  the  shape  of  not  only  innocent  but  pious  persons,  or  so  delude 
the  senses  of  the  afflicted  that  they  strongly  conceit  their  hurt  is  from  such 
persons,  when,  indeed,  it  is  not.  (2.)  The  improving  of  one  afflicted  to 
inquire  by,  who  afflicts  the  others,  I  fear  may  be,  and  has  been,  unlawfully 
used,  to  Satan’s  great  advantage.  (3.)  As  to  my  writing,  it  was  put  upon 
me  by  authority;  and  therein  I  have  been  very  careful  to  avoid  the  wronging 
of  any(«).  (4).  As  to  my  oath,  I  never  meant  it,  nor  do  I  know  how  it  can 

be  otherwise  construed,  than  as  vulgarly  and  every  one  understood ;  yea,  and 
upon  inquiry,  it  may  be  found  so  worded  also.  (5.)  As  to  any  passage  in 
preaching  or  prayer,  in  that  sore  hour  of  distress  and  darkness,  I  always 
intended  but  due  justice  on  each  hand,  and  that  not  according  to  man,  but 
God  (who  knows  all  things  most  perfectly),  however,  through  weakness  or 
sore  exercise,  I  might  sometimes,  yea,  and  possibly  sundry  times,  unadvis¬ 
edly  expressed  myself.  (6.)  As  to  several  that  have  confessed  against  them¬ 
selves,  they  being  wholly  strangers  to  me,  but  yet  of  good  account  with 
better  men  than  myself,  to  whom  also  they  are  well  known,  I  do  not  pass  so 
much  as  a  secret  condemnation  upon  them ;  but  rather,  seeing  God  has  so 
amazingly  lengthened  out  Satan’s  chain  in  this  most  formidable  outrage,  I 
much  more  incline  to  side  with  the  opinion  of  those  that  have  grounds  to 
hope  better  of  them.  (7.)  As  to  all  that  have  unduly  suffered  in  these  mat¬ 
ters  (either  in  their  persons  or  relations),  through  the  clouds  of  human  weak¬ 
ness,  and  Satan’s  wiles  and  sophistry,  I  do  truly  sympathize  with  them ; 
taking  it  for  granted  that  such  as  drew  themselves  clear  of  this  great  trans- 


APPENDIX.  549 

gression,  or  that  have  sufficient  grounds  so  to  look  upon  their  dear  friends, 
have  hereby  been  under  those  sore  trials  and  temptations,  that  not  an  ordi¬ 
nary  measure  of  true  grace  would  be  sufficient  to  prevent  a  bewraying  of 
remaining  corruption.  (8.)  I  am  very  much  in  the  mind,  and  abundantly 
persuaded,  that  God  (for  holy  ends,  though  for  what  in  particular  is  best 
known  to  himself)  has  suffered  the  evil  angels  to  delude  us  on  both  hands, 
but  bow  far  on  the  one  side  or  the  other  is  much  above  me  to  say.  And,  if 
■we  cannot  reconcile  till  we  come  to  a  full  discerning  of  these  things,  I  fear 
we  shall  never  come  to  agreement,  or,  at  soonest,  not  in  this  world.  There¬ 
fore  (9),  in  tine,  The  matter  being  so  dark  and  perplexed  as  that  there  is  no 
present  appearance  that  all  God’s  servants  should  be  altogether  of  one  mind, 
in  all  circumstances  touching  the  same,  I  do  most  heartily,  fervently,  and 
humbly  beseech  pardon  of  the  merciful  God,  through  the  blood  of  Christ,  of 
all  my  mistakes  and  trespasses  in  so  weighty  a  matter;  and  also  all  your 
forgiveness  of  every  offence  in  this  and  other  affairs,  wherein  you  see  or  con¬ 
ceive  I  have  erred  and  offended;  professing,  in  the  presence  of  the  Almighty 
God,  that  what  I  have  done  has  been,  as  for  substance,  as  I  apprehended  was 
duty,  —  however  through  weakness,  ignorance,  &c.,  I  may  have  been  mis¬ 
taken;  I  also,  through  grace,  promising  each  of  you  the  like  of  me.  And 
so  again,  I  beg,  entreat,  and  beseech  you,  that  Satan,  the  devil,  the  roaring 
lion,  the  old  dragon,  the  enemy  of  all  righteousness,  may  no  longer  be  served 
by  us,  by  our  envy  and  strifes,  where  every  evil  work  prevails  whilst  these 
bear  sway  (Isa.  iii.  14-16);  but  that  all,  from  this  day  forward,  may  be 
covered  with  the  mantle  of  love,  and  we  may  on  all  hands  forgive  each 
other  heartily,  sincerely,  and  thoroughly,  as  we  do  hope  and  pray  that  God, 
for  Christ’s  sake,  would  forgive  each  of  ourselves  (Matt,  xviii.  21  ad  jinem  ; 
Col.  iii.  12,  13).  Put  on,  therefore,  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved, 
bowels  of  mercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  long-suffering, 
forbearing  one  another,  and  forgiving  one  another.  If  any  man  have  a  quar¬ 
rel  against  any,  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye  (Eph.  iv.  31,  32). 
Let  all  bitterness  and  wrath  and  anger  and  clamor  and  evil-speaking  be  put 
away  from  you,  with  all  malice;  and  be  ye  kind  one  to  another,  tender¬ 
hearted,  forgiving  one  another,  even  as  God,  for  Christ’s  sake,  hath  forgiven 
you.  Amen,  amen.  Saji  :  Parris. 

“  26  Nov.,  1694.” 

[In  the  record,  off  against  (a)  as  above,  the  following  is  in  Mr.  Parris’s  writing:  ] 

(a)  Added,  by  the  desire  of  the  council,  this  following  paragraph ;  viz., 
Nevertheless,  I  fear,  that,  in  and  through  the  throng  of  the  many  things 
written  by  me,  in  the  late  confusions,  there  has  not  been  a  due  exactness 
always  used;  and,  as  I  now  see  the  inconveniency  of  my  writing  so  much  on 
those  difficult  occasions,  so  I  would  lament  every  error  of  such  writings.  — 
Apr.  3,  1695.  Idem.  S.  P. 

[The  above  passage  (a)  is  inserted  in  a  marginal  space  left  for  it  on  a  page,  con¬ 
taining  the  record  of  a  meeting,  Nov.  26,  1694,  while  it  is  dated  April  3,  1695,  and 


550 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


purports  to  be  added  “by  the  desire  of  the  council,”  which  met  at  the  last-named 
date.  There  are  other  indications,  that  the  record  of  Mr.  Parris’s  controversy  with 
the  dissatisfied  brethren,  consequent  upon  the  proceedings  in  1692,  was  made  origi¬ 
nally  on  separate  sheets  of  paper,  and  then  compiled,  and  inscribed  in  the  church- 
book,  as  it  there  appears.  There  are  several  other  entries,  which  refer  to  dates  ahead, 
lie  probably  made  out  his  record  near  the  close  of  the  struggle  which  resulted  iu  his 
dismission,  and  left  it,  on  the  pages  of  the  book,  as  his  history  of  the  case.  After  giv¬ 
ing  his  “  Meditations  for  Peace,”  the  record  goes  on  :  — ] 

After  I  had  read  these  overtures  abovesaid,  I  desired  the  brethren  to  de¬ 
clare  themselves  whether  they  remained  still  dissatisfied.  Brother  Tarbell 
answered,  that  they  desired  to  consider  of  it,  and  to  have  a  copy  of  what  I 
had  read.  I  replied,  that  then  they  must  subscribe  their  reasons  (above 
mentioned),  for  as  j’et  they  were  anonymous:  so  at  length,  with  no  little  dif¬ 
ficulty,  I  purchased  the  subscription  of  their  charges  by  my  abovesaid  over¬ 
tures,  which  I  gave,  subscribed  with  mv  name,  to  them,  to  consider  of;  and 
so  this  meeting  broke  up.  Note  that,  during  this  agitation  with  our  dissent¬ 
ing  brethren,  they  entertained  frequent  whisperings  with  comers  and  goers 
to  them  and  from  them;  particularly  Dan:  Andrews,  and  Tho:  Preston  from 
Mr.  Israel  Porter,  and  Jos:  Hutchinson,  &c. 

Nov.  30,  1694.  —  Brother  Nurse  and  Brother  Tarbell  (bringing  with  them 
Joseph  Putnam  and  Tho:  Preston)  towai'ds  night  came  to  my  house,  where 
they  found  the  two  deacons  and  several  other  brethren;  viz.,  Tho:  Putnam, 
Jno.  Putnam,  Jr.,  Benj.  Wilkins,  and  Ezek:  Cheever,  besides  Lieutenant  Jno. 
Walcot.  And  Brother  Tarbell  said  they  came  to  answer  my  paper,  which 
they  had  now  considered  of,  and  their  answer  was  this;  viz.,  that  they 
remained  dissatisfied,  and  desired  that  the  church  would  call  a  council,  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  advice  we  had  lately  from  ministers. 

[An  account  has  been  given,  p.  493,  of  the  attempts  of  the  “  dissatisfied  brethren  ” 
to  procure  a  mutual  council  to  decide  the  controversy  between  them  and  Mr.  Parris. 
On  the  14th  of  June,  1694,  a  letter  was  addressed  to  him,  advising  him  to  agree  to  the 
call  of  such  acouncil,  signed  by  John  Iligginson,  of  the  First  Church  iu  Salem ;  James 
Allen,  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston;  John  Hale,  of  the  church  in  Beverly  ;  Samuel 
Willard,  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston;  Samuel  Cheever,  of  the  church  iu  Mar¬ 
blehead;  and  Joseph  Gerrish,  of  the  church  in  Wenham.  Nicholas  Noyes  joined  in 
the  advice,  “  with  this  proviso,  that  he  be  not  chosen  one  of  the  council.”  Mr.  Parris 
contrived  to  avoid  following  the  advice.  On  the  10th  of  September',  Messrs.  Higginson, 
Allen,  Willard,  Cheever,  and  Gerrish  again,  in  earnest  and  quite  peremptory  terms, 
renewed  their  advice  in  another  letter  to  Mr.  Parris.  No  longer  venturing  to  resist 
their  authority,  he  yielded,  and  consented  to  a  mutual  council,  upon  certain  terms, 
one  of  which  was,  that  neither  of  the  churches  whose  ministers  had  thus  foi'ced  him 
to  the  measure  should  be  of  the  council.  The  following  passages  give  the  conclusion 
of  the  matter,  as  related  by  Mr.  Parris  iu  his  record-book  :  — ] 

Feb.  12  [1695].  —  The  church  met  again,  as  last  agreed  upon;  and,  after  a 
while,  our  dissenting  brethren,  Tho:  Wilkins,  Sam:  Nurse,  and  Jno.  Tarbell’ 
came  also.  After  our  constant  way  of  begging  the  presence  of  God  with  us, 


APPENDIX. 


551 


we  desired  our  dissenting  brethren  to  acquaint  us  whether  they  would  accept 
of  our  last  proposals,  which  they  desired  to  this  day  to  consider  of.  They 
answered,  that  they  were  willing  to  drop  the  six  churches  from  \fhose  elders 
we  had  had  the  advice  abovesaid,  dated  14  June  last;  but  they  were  not  free 
to  exclude  Ipswich.  This  they  stuck  unto  long,  and  then  desired  that  they 
might  withdraw  a  little  to  confer  among  themselves  about  it,  which  was 
granted.  But  they  quickly  returned,  as  resolved  for  Ipswich  as  before.  We 
desired  them  to  nominate  the  three  churches  they  would  have  sent  to :  and, 
after  much  debate,  they  did;  viz.,  Rowley,  Salisbury,  and  Ipswich.  'Where¬ 
upon  we  voted,  by  a  full  consent,  Rowley  and  Salisbury  churches  for  a  part 
of  the  council,  and  desired  them  to  nominate  a  third  church.  But  still  they 
insisted  on  Ipswich,  which  we  told  them  they  were  openly  informed,  the  last 
meeting,  that  we  had  excepted  against.  Then  they  were  told  that  we  would 
immediately  choose  three  other  churches  to  join  with  the  two  before  nomi¬ 
nated  and  voted,  if  they  saw  not  good  to  nominate  any  more ;  or  else  we 
would  choose  two  other  churches  to  join  with  the  aforesaid  two,  if  they 
pleased.  They  answered,  they  would  be  willing  to  that,  if  Ipswich  might  be 
one  of  them.  Then  it  was  asked  them,  if  a  dismission  to  some  other  Orthodox 
church,  where  they  might  better  please  themselves,  would  content  them. 
Brother  Tarbell  answered,  “Ay,  if  we  could  find  a  way  to  remove  our  livings 
too.”  Then  it  was  propounded,  whether  we  could  not  unite  amongst  our¬ 
selves.  The  particular  answer  hereunto  I  remember  not;  but  (I  think)  such 
hints  were  given  by  them  as  if  it  were  impossible.  Thus  much  time  being 
gone,  it  being  well  towards  sunset,  and  we  concluding  that  it  was  necessary 
that  we  should  do  something  ourselves,  if  they  would  not  (as  the  elders  had 
heretofore  desired)  accept  of  our  joining  with  them,  we  dismissed  them;  and, 
by  a  general  agreement  amongst  ourselves,  read  and  voted  letters  to  the 
churches  at  North  Boston,  Weymouth,  Malden,  and  Rowley,  for  their  help 
in  a  council. 

[Mr.  Parris’s  plan  of  fiuding  refuge  in  an  ex-parte  council  was  utterly  frustrated. 
On  the  1st  of  March,  the  reverend  elders  in  the  Bay  accounted  it  advisable,”  as  he 
expresses  it  in  his  records,  that  the  First  Church  and  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston 
should  be  added  to  the  council.  They  wrote  to  him  to  that  effect,  and  he  had  to  com¬ 
ply.  This  brought  .lames  Allen  and  Samuel  Willard  into  the  council,  and  determined 
the  character  of  the  result,  which,  coming  from  a  tribunal  called  by  him  to  adjudicate 
the  case,  and  hearing  only  such  evidence  as  he  laid  before  it,  so  far  as  it  bore  against 
him,  was  decisive  and  fatal.  It  was  as  follows  :  —  ] 

The  elders  and  messengers  of  the  churches  —  met  in  council  at  Salem 
Village,  April  3,  1695,  to  consider  and  determine  what  is  to  be  done  for  the 
composure  of  the  present  unhappy  differences  in  that  place,  —  after  solemn 
invocation  of  God  in  Christ  for  his  direction,  do  unanimously  declare  and 
advise  as  followeth:  — 

I.  We  judge  that,  albeit  in  the  late  and  the  dark  time  of  the  confusions, 
wherein  Satan  had  obtained  a  more  than  ordinaiy  liberty  to  be  sifting  of  this 
plantation,  there  were  sundry  unwarrantable  and  uncomfortable  steps  taken 


SALEM  WITCHCRAFT. 


552 


by  Mr.  Samuel  Parris,  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Salem  Village,  then  under 
the  hurrying  distractions  of  amazing  afflictions;  yet  the  said  Mr.  Parris,  by 
the  good  hand  of  God  brought  unto  a  better  sense  of  things,  hath  so  fully 
expressed  it,  that  a  Christian  charity  may  and  should  receive  satisfaction 
therewith. 

II.  Inasmuch  as  divers  Christian  brethren  in  the  church  of  Salem  Village 
have  been  offended  at  Mr.  Parris  tor  his  conduct  in  the  time  of  the  difficulties 
and  calamities  which  have  distressed  them,  we  now  advise  them  charitably 
to  accept  the  satisfaction  which  he  hath  tendered  in  his  Christian  acknowledg¬ 
ments  of  the  errors  therein  committed;  yea,  to  endeavor,  as  far  as  ’tis  pos¬ 
sible,  the  fullest  reconciliation  of  their  minds  unto  communion  with  him,  in 
the  whole  exercise  of  his  ministry,  and  with  the  rest  of  the  church  (Matt.  vi. 
12-14;  Luke  xvii.  3;  James  v.  16). 

III.  Considering  the  extreme  trials  and  troubles  which  the  dissatisfied 
brethren  in  the  church  of  Salem  Village  have  undergone  in  the  day’  of  sore 
temptation  which  hath  been  upon  them,  we  cannot  but  advise  the  church  to 
treat  them  with  bowels  of  much  compassion,  instead  of  all  more  critical  or 
rigorous  proceedings  against  them,  for  the  infirmities  discovered  by  them  in 
such  an  heart-breaking  day.  And  if,  after  a  patient  waiting  for  it,  the  said 
brethren  cannot  so  far  overcome  the  uneasiness  of  their  spirits,  in  the  remem¬ 
brance  of  the  disasters  that  have  happened,  as  to  sit  under  his  ministry,  we 
advise  the  church,  with  all  tenderness,  to  grant  them  a  dismission  unto  any 
other  society’  of  the  faithful  whereunto  they’  may  desire  to  be  dismissed  (Gal. 
vi  1,  2;  Ps.  ciii.  13,  14;  Job  xix.  21). 

IV.  Mr.  Parris  having,  as  we  understand,  with  much  fidelity  and  integrity’ 
acquitted  himself  in  the  main  course  of  his  ministry  since  he  hath  been  pas¬ 
tor  to  the  church  in  Salem  Village,  about  his  first  call  whereunto,  we  look 
upon  all  contestations  now  to  be  both  unreasonable  and  unseasonable;  and 
our  Lord  having  made  him  a  blessing  unto  the  souls  of  not  a  few,  both  old 
and  young,  in  this  place,  we  advise  that  he  be  accordingly  respected,  honored, 
and  supported,  with  all  the  regards  that  are  due  to  a  painful  minister  of  the 
gospel  (1  Thess.  v.  12,  13;  1  Tim.  v.  17). 

V.  Having  observed  that  there  is  in  Salem  Village  a  spirit  full  of  conten¬ 
tions  and  animosities,  too  sadly  verifying  the  blemish  which  hath  heretofore 
lain  upon  them,  and  that  some  complaints  brought  against  Mr.  Parris  have 
been  either  causeless  and  groundless,  or  unduly  aggravated,  we  do,  in  the 
name  and  fear  of  the  Lord,  solemnly  warn  them  to  consider,  whether,  if  they 
continue  to  devour  one  another,  it  will  not  be  bitterness  in  the  latter  end; 
and  beware  lest  the  Lord  be  provoked  thereby  utterly  to  deprive  them  of 
those  which  they  should  account  their  precious  and  pleasant  things,  and 
abandon  them  to  all  the  desolations  of  a  people  that  sin  away’  the  mercies  of 
the  gospel  (James  iii.  16 ;  Gal.  v.  15 ;  2  Sam  ii.  26 ;  Isa.  v.  4,  5,  6 ;  Matt, 
xxi.  43). 

VI.  If  the  distempers  in  Salem  Village  should  be  (which  God  forbid!)  so 
incurable,  that  Mr.  Parris,  after  all,  find  that  he  cannot,  with  any’  comfort 


APPENDIX. 


553 


and  service,  continue  in  his  present  station,  his  removal  from  thence  will  not 
expose  him  unto  any  hard  character  with  us,  nor,  we  hope,  with  the  rest  of 
the  people  of  God  among  whom  we  live  (Matt.  x.  14;  Acts  xxii.  18). 

All  which  advice  we  follow  with  our  prayers  that  the  God  of  peace  would 
bruise  Satan  under  our  feet.  Now,  the  Lord  of  peace  himself  give  you  peace 
always  by  all  means. 

Increase  Mather,  Moderator. 


♦Joseph  Bridgham. 

*  Samuel  Ciieckley. 

*  William  Toreey. 

*  Joseph  Boynton. 

*  Richard  Middlecot. 

*JOIIN  W ALLEY. 

♦Jer:  Dummer. 

*  Nehemiah  Jewet. 


*  Ephraim  Hunt. 

*  Natiill.  W illiams. 
Samuel  Phillips. 
James  Allen. 
Samuel  Torrey. 
Samuel  Willard. 
Edward  Paysox. 
Cotton  Mather. 


[The  names  of  the  lay  members  of  the  Council  are  marked  thus,  *.  They  were 
persons  of  high  standing  in  civil  life.  Samuel  Checkley  was  not  (as  stated  [Supple¬ 
ment,  p.  494],  through  an  inadvertence,  of  which,  I  trust,  not  many  such  instances 
can  be  found  in  these  volumes)  the  Rev.  Mr.  Checkley,  hut  his  father,  Col.  Samuel 
Checkley,  a  citizen  of  Boston,  of  much  prominence  at  the  time. 

The  foregoing  document  is  skilfully  drawn.  While  kindly  in  its  tone  towards  Mr. 
Parris,  it  is,  in  reality,  a  strong  condemnation  of  his  course,  especially  in  Article  I., 
as  also  in  the  paragraph  marked  (a),  (p.  549),  “  added  by  the  desire  of  the  Council  ”  to 
his  “  Meditations  for  Peace.”  Article  III.  discountenances  the  proceedings  of  his 
church  in  its  censure  of  “  the  dissatisfied  brethren,”  and  requires  that  they  should 
be  recognized  and  treated  as  members  in  good  standing.  The  fifth  article  administers 
rebuke  with  an  equal  hand  to  both  sides,  while  the  sixth  and  last  recommends  the 
removal  of  Mr.  Parris,  if  the  alienation  of  his  opponents  should  prove  “incurable.” 

As  an  authoritative  condemnation  of  the  proceedings  related  in  this  work,  pro¬ 
nounced  at  the  time,  it  is  a  fitting  final  close  of  the  presentation  of  this  subject.] 


THE  END. 


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